


Toxic Green

by orphan_account



Series: Young Justice: Iridescent [3]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: F/M, M/M, Other, The Light, The Reach - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-08-25
Updated: 2015-09-09
Packaged: 2018-04-17 06:53:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,096
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4656867
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With Inertia running around on the loose, the Team and the League face challenges on how to stop the Light from taking over once and for all. But perhaps, it takes one man, one risk, one chance, and some time to change that. Part 2 of Young Justice: Iridescent. (Sequel of Blood Red)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. YEAR 2025

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, okay, okay, it's currently 11:01 p.m. here where I live on 8/24/15, and over the past few days I've really been pushing on this fan fiction. I wanted it finished and out of the way (but I didn't terribly rush it, no worries my brothers). School has been a major factor of motivation, surprisingly. So, like the responsible student I am, I of course, worked on this story instead of an eight-page math packet due in two days. ENJOY.

** YEAR 2025 **   
**EARTH 16 AS OF FEBRUARY 1ST, 2025**

** THE TEAM **

**ARROWETTE**  
Alias: Bonnie King  
Sex: Female  
Species: Human  
Age: 19  
Date of Birth: August 1st, 2005  
Mentor(s): Green Arrow (Oliver Queen)(formerly)

 **BATGIRL II**  
Alias: Stephanie Brown  
Sex: Female  
Species: Human  
Age: 18  
Date of Birth: October 15th, 2006  
Mentor(s): Batman II (Richard Grayson), Red Robin (Timothy Drake), Batman (Bruce Wayne)(formerly)

 **BEAST BOY**  
Alias: Garfield Logan  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human-Martian  
Age: 22  
Date of Birth: November 14th, 2002  
Mentor(s): Miss Martian (M'gann M'orzz/Megan Morse)(formerly)

 **BUNKER**  
Alias: Miguel Jose Barragan  
Sex: Male  
Species: Meta-Human  
Age: 14  
Date of Birth: February 28th, 2010  
Mentor(s): Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Green Lantern (John Stewart), Green Lantern (Milagro Reyes)(considered mentor)

 **GREEN LANTERN**  
Alias: Milagro Reyes  
Sex: Female  
Species: Human  
Age: 17  
Date of Birth: June 7th, 2007  
Mentor(s): Green Lantern (Guy Gardner), Green Lantern (Hal Jordan), Green Lantern (John Stewart), Blue Beetle III (Jaime Reyes)(considered mentor)

 **MARY MARVEL**  
Alias: Mary Willow Batson  
Sex: Female  
Species: Meta-Human  
Age: 17  
Date of Birth: January 29th, 2008  
Mentor(s): Captain Marvel (Billy Batson)

 **MISS MARTIAN**  
Alias: Megan Morse/M'gann M'orzz  
Sex: Female  
Species: Martian  
Age: 62 (25 human biological equivalent)  
Date of Birth: April 10th, 1962 (April 10th, 1994 human biological equivalent)  
Mentor(s): Martian Manhunter (J'onn J'onzz/John Jones)

 **RAVEN**  
Alias: Rachel Roth  
Sex: Female  
Species: Demon-Human  
Age: 17  
Date of Birth: October 31st, 2007  
Mentor(s): N/A

 **ROBIN V**  
Alias: Damian Wayne  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human  
Age: 16  
Date of Birth: April 12th, 2008  
Mentor(s): Batman II (Richard Grayson), Red Robin (Timothy Drake), Batman (Bruce Wayne)(formerly), Batgirl II (Stephanie Brown)(considered mentor)

 **SPEEDY II**  
Alias: Lian Nyguyen-Harper  
Sex: Female  
Species: Human  
Age: 9  
Date of Birth: September 7th, 2015  
Mentor(s): Arrowette (Bonnie King)

 **STARFIRE**  
Alias: Koriand'r  
Sex: Female  
Species: Tamaranean  
Age: 16  
Date of Birth: July 19th, 2008  
Mentor(s): N/A

 **STREAKY**  
Alias: Streaky  
Sex: Male  
Species: Kryptonian Cat  
Age: 5  
Date of Birth: July 16th, 2019  
Affiliation: Supergirl (Kara Kent)

 **SUPERBOY**  
Alias: Conner Kent  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human-Kryptonian  
Age: 16 (physically), 30 (mentally), 14 (chronologically)  
Date of Birth: March 21st, 2010 (March 21st, 1994 mental equivalent)  
Mentor(s): Superman (Clark Kent)(formerly)

 **SUPERGIRL**  
Alias: Kara Kent  
Sex: Female  
Species: Kryptonian  
Age: 15  
Date of Birth: June 17th, 2009  
Mentor(s): Superman (Clark Kent), Superboy (Conner Kent)  
 ****  
WOLF  
Alias: Wolf  
Sex: Male  
Species: Kobra-Venom-Enhanced Wolf  
Age: 16 (Kobra Venom allows Wolf to live 4x longer than the average wolf)  
Date of Birth: November 28th, 2008  
Affiliation: Superboy (Conner Kent)

**THE TEAM: FORMER MEMBERS  ** **(NOW OF THE JUSTICE LEAGUE)**

**AQUALAD**  
Alias: Kaldur'ahm  
Sex: Male  
Species: Atlantean  
Age: 31  
Date of Birth: January 21st, 1994  
Formerly: N/A

 **BATMAN II**  
Alias: Richard Grayson  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human  
Age: 28  
Date of Birth: December 1st, 1996  
Formerly: Robin, Nightwing

 **BLUE BEETLE III**  
Alias: Jaime Reyes  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human  
Age: 25  
Date of Birth: October 24th, 1999  
Formerly: N/A

 **BUMBLEBEE**  
Alias: Karen Beecher  
Sex: Female  
Species: Human  
Age: 29  
Date of Birth: February 2nd, 1995  
Formerly: N/A

 **FLASH III**  
Alias: Bartholomew Allen  
Sex: Male  
Species: Meta-Human  
Age: -18 (technically), 22 (time-stream equivalent)  
Date of Birth: September 13th, 2042 (technically), September 13th, 2002 (time-stream equivalent)  
Formerly: Impulse, Kid Flash II

 **GUARDIAN II**  
Alias: Malcom Duncan  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human  
Age: 31  
Date of Birth: August 3rd, 1993  
Formerly: N/A

 **ICON II**  
Alias: Raquel Ervin  
Sex: Female  
Species: Unclassified Alien  
Age: 29  
Date of Birth: October 10th, 1995  
Formerly: Rocket

 **LAGOON BOY**  
Alias: La'gaan  
Sex: Male  
Species: Atlantean  
Age: 26  
Date of Birth: August 29th, 1998  
Formerly: N/A

 **RED BEETLE**  
Alias: Wallace West  
Sex: Male  
Species: Meta-Human  
Age: 30  
Date of Birth: November 11th, 1994  
Formerly: Kid Flash

 **RED ROBIN**  
Alias: Timothy Drake  
Sex: Male  
Species: Human  
Age: 23  
Date of Birth: July 20th, 2001  
Formerly: Robin III

 **STATIC SHOCK**  
Alias: Virgil Hawkins  
Sex: Male  
Species: Meta-Human  
Age: 24  
Date of Birth: November 1st, 2000  
Formerly: N/A

 **TIGRESS**  
Alias: Artemis Crock  
Species: Human  
Sex: Female  
Age: 29  
Date of Birth: March 13th, 1995  
Formerly: Artemis

 **WONDER GIRL**  
Alias: Cassandra Drake  
Species: Human-Amazonian  
Sex: Female  
Age: 23  
Date of Birth: August 5th, 2001  
Formerly: N/A

 **ZATANNA**  
Alias: Zatanna Zatara  
Species: Human  
Sex: Female  
Age: 28  
Date of Birth: April 30th, 1996  
Formerly: N/A

** RETIRED **

**BATGIRL**  
Alias: Barbara Gordon  
CAUSE OF RETIREMENT: permanent paralyzation in legs

 **BATMAN**  
Alias: Bruce Wayne  
CAUSE OF RETIREMENT: permanent lung injury

 **FLASH II**  
Alias: Barry Allen  
CAUSE OF RETIREMENT: age/desiring to "settle down" after Iris' death

 **HAWKMAN**  
Alias: Katar Hol  
CAUSE OF RETIREMENT: age

 **ICON**  
Alias: Augustus Freeman  
CAUSE OF RETIREMENT: age

** DECEASED **

**ARSENAL**  
Alias: Roy Harper  
Aged: 27 (chronologically), 19 (frozen-time equivalent)  
March 11th, 1993 - June 1st, 2020  
CAUSE OF DEATH: aircraft crash

 **AQUAGIRL**  
Alias: Tula  
Aged: 20  
June 13th, 1994 - February 18th, 2015  
CAUSE OF DEATH: smashed by boulders

 **BLACK CANARY**  
Alias: Dinah Queen  
Aged: 37  
July 8th, 1987 - August 6th, 2024  
CAUSE OF DEATH: killed by Light drone

 **BLUE BEETLE II**  
Alias: Ted Kord  
Aged: 32  
April 20th, 1983 - July 18th, 2015  
CAUSE OF DEATH: killed by an explosion

 **FLASH**  
Alias: Jason Garrick  
Aged: 101  
April 7th, 1919 - September 27th, 2020  
CAUSE OF DEATH: old age

 **HUNTRESS**  
Alias: Paula Nguyen-Crock  
Aged: 60  
June 3rd, 1962 - June 3rd, 2022  
CAUSE OF DEATH: assassinated by Sportsmaster

 **IRIS WEST-ALLEN**  
Aged: 42  
March 14th, 1982 - January 20th, 2025  
CAUSE OF DEATH: assassinated by Red Beetle

 **ROBIN II**  
Alias: Jason Todd  
Aged: 15  
July 4th, 1999 - January 1st, 2015  
CAUSE OF DEATH: assassinated by The Joker

** OTHER **

**KID FLASH III**  
Alias: Iris West II  
Species: Meta-Human  
Age: 7  
Date of Birth: March 5th, 2017  
Mentor(s): Flash III (Bartholomew Allen), Flash II (Barry Allen)(technically), Red Beetle (Wallace West)

 **INERTIA**  
Alias: Jai West  
Species: Meta-Human  
Age: 7  
Date of Birth: March 5th, 2017  
Mentor(s): The Light (technically), unknown Light member

 **TORNADO TWINS**  
Aliases:Don Allen & Dawn Allen  
Species: Meta-Human  
Ages: 8  
Date of Births: December 16th, 2016  
Mentor(s): Flash III (Bartholomew Allen), Flash II (Barry Allen)(technically)


	2. Chapter 1

**METROPOLIS SPACE MUSEUM**

**FEBRUARY 22ND, 2425**

**23:47 PCT**

Same shit, different day.

It was what filled his thoughts every time he walked into this damn building. How could he have been such an idiot? He went from being something, to nothing. He regretted ignoring the feeling of "don't" that ran down his spine the day his ass of a father re-entered his life. Money. His father offered him money, something he never had, something he wanted so badly that he ignored the consequences, ignored the bad outcomes, ignored the possibilities of what could happen. He didn't necessarily know what to blame. Was it his over-confidence from being a star athlete? Was it simply his young impulsiveness, or his desire to eat something other than ramen or a cheap slice of ninety-nine cent pizza for dinner? He had enjoyed his days as a quarterback, enjoyed the support from the young men on his football team that he would consider his brothers, enjoyed the flirtatious tones of the attractive cheerleaders, and enjoyed the after-game parties which would always have memories engraved into his mind, that only brought him nostalgia these days. He still couldn't figure out why he would trade all of that for green pieces of paper and a credit card. It was a mistake. A big one. When he was expelled from college when he was twenty-one, he had spent the last four years switching from job to job, and eventually, landed a spot in the museum.

Same shit, different day.

The sentence almost amused him, almost as if he were the one to create it and thought it was a funny joke to tell to his friends. It felt as if the quote were almost ripped straight out from inside him, as if it couldn't apply to him any more than it already did.

He once held a football in his hand on the field. Now it was simply a flashlight in a museum.

The grand Michael Jon Carter, the grand star quarterback of Gotham University, was now the night-watch at a museum on the other side of the country. He did his usual patrol around the museum, and of course, finding nothing in his path. Certain parts of the building were lit up at night, but due to conserving money, a good third of it was complete pitch-black. The darkness never bothered him anyways. He was a fit guy, and could take on an intruder in the darkness. His biggest fear was accidentally running into something expensive and destroying it, and having to pay money to fix, which if he looked on the bright side of that, he had a little bit more now than back in his football days. But to earn the money he had to now, he had to sell his happiness. Which he soon learned after he was caught purposely losing his football games, was much more important than money would ever be.

He began making his way towards the 21st century area. It wasn't anything too interesting, a few old cars and planes there, displays of things they called "smartphones" (which, to these days' standards, would be a very dumb phone), and information about the United States' culture back then, to which Michael learned, they had football back then as well.

But there was one thing that always bothered him.

That man in the tube.

He would often find himself stopping in the middle of his patrol to look at him. He didn't know why, perhaps it was because the guy was an  _actual living man,_ and not a piece of 21st century technology. Michael re-read the plague once again, like he did almost every night for the past nine months. His name was Ted Kord, the owner of Kord Technologies, technically killed in an explosion in the year of 2015, but one of the Light members, Ra's Al Ghul, dug up his grave and "reformed" him. Michael didn't exactly know how the what-could-have-been president reformed the man, but the other presidents made it clear that it wasn't the first time that Ra's Al Ghul had done such to a person. Ironically, one year after Kord's "death", Ra's was killed by an evil being called "Black Beetle", and he was never reformed like Ted Kord was. To preserve the man, they kept him in this tube for the past four-hundred-ten years. He wouldn't age in there. He would simply lie there, an unconscious man for eternity. Michael would sometimes spot some of his coworkers working on the tube to supply the man with food and water through the needles in his arms so he wouldn't die from starvation or dehydration. He didn't understand why they even bothered to preserve the guy. Sure, he was legendary back in his days, but they were long over, and his "amazing" technology would be laughed at today. It wasn't like humans evolved into something else, either. He looked like a regular guy. Arms, legs, head, torso, hair, eyes. If he were to walk around on the streets, nobody would notice anything significantly different about him, despite the fact that he was a four hundred forty-three year old man, he only looked somewhere in his early thirties.

Michael hadn't even realized he had put his hand on the tube. He wondered what the man's eye color was, as his eyes were never open. Brown? Green? Blue? Some other color?

 _Finish your patrol_ , he told himself. He had a job, and he had to do it. Yet he couldn't tear his eyes off of the tube. He slid his hand down the tube, towards a digital button that activated a pass-code.

And at that moment, Michael realized how much power he had in his hands. He  _knew_ the pass-code to this tube. He wasn't supposed to know, but it was a streak of luck one day, when he overheard his HR's discussing it.

" _It's his birthday backwards_." one said.

This man was born on April 20th of 1983. So the password, Michael assumed, would be 3891024. He repeated the numbers inside of his mind. He could set this man free, show him the new world. He didn't deserve to be caged like this. Yet again, why? Michael could get in huge trouble, and thrown in jail.

" _That's why I'm cheer captain,_ " his twin sister once told him, " _I'm willing to try tricks that the others aren't, and inspire them to take risks. I'm willing to make a change in our moves- to make the performance better. Even if it may end of fracturing my spine._ "

Take risks. Change.

That is what he wanted.

Same shit, different day.

Same shit, different day.

Same shit, different day.

It was time for a new quote.

Different shit, different day.

He swiftly moved his fingers across the holographic keyboard before he heard the satisfying click that told him his access into the tube was granted.

The tube's doors began to open, letting out steam and a "swish" sound before Michael pulled out the needles in Kord's arm, grabbed the man in front of him, pulling him out. He sat down on the floor, gently set him down, feeling his steamy skin, holding the man as if he were a fragile infant.

"Hey." he simply said, leaning his head over so the man could hear him. No response. Michael tried again, "Hello?"

The man groaned and his eyes slowly opened. Michael smiled. Ted's eyes were blue, just like his own.

His eyes suddenly shot open widely and he gasped, immediately removing himself from Michael's hold and stumbling backwards trying to escape.

"Calm down." Michael tried to say, but the man was already running away.

Shit. This wasn't good.

Michael began to run after him, using his best effort to not scare the man. Ted would have trouble navigating through the dark, but the footsteps of Michael would still alert him and he would still roughly be able to tell where he was.

A few things could be heard being smashed onto the ground, glass shattering, metal making a loud bang as it collided with the floor. With a burst of speed and his well-practiced football tackle, he pinned Ted to the floor. Ted let out a shrill cry.

"Be quiet!" Michael hissed, " _Listen_  to me."

"I'm not telling you where it is!" Michael growled, and then unexpectedly threw Michael off of his back, slamming him into the wall. He quickly stood up and held Michael against the wall, snarling.

"The Justice League are coming. Consider yourself a lucky man."

"What's the Justice League?" Michael asked, his voice shaking. This guy was strong, without a doubt. He must have been athletic when he was still "alive".

Ted raised an eyebrow, confused, but then shook his head, and made a firmer grip on Michael.

" _Please_ , listen-"

" _Shut up_."

" _You don't understand_."

"If you're offering me money, I _don't_  want it. You're going to Belle Reve, kid. Maybe even  _Arkham_."

"I don't know what Belle Reve  _is_!" Michael cried.

An annoyed look spread across Ted's face and he let go of Michael, who let out a breath of relief.

"Thank-" Michael began, but Ted threw him onto the floor, pinning him down there as well.

"Tell me where the rest of the Light is!" he demanded.

"The Light?" Michael asked, more confused now than ever.

" _Yes._ "

"The White House?"

"The White House... what do they want with the president?" Ted narrowed his eyes.

"Nothing? Dude, you've gotta understand-"

"Answer the damn question!"

"They  _are_  the presidents!" Michael exclaimed, "Let me go, I can explain!"

Ted Kord sighed, but let Michael up, and began to drag him by the wrist.

"Where are we going?" Michael asked. Maybe this wasn't that great of an idea. Maybe it wasn't worth the risk. Maybe this guy was gonna kill him, right here, right now.

"Out." Ted grumbled, then stopped in his tracks, "Where are we?"

"The Metropolis Space Museum... sir." Michael sputtered.

"There is no 'Metropolis Space Museum'. Where'd you take me?" Ted asked, looking around.

"I let you out of that tube." Michael pointed towards the open tube to their left, and Ted turned around to face it. Michael attempted to wriggle out of his grasp, but to no avail.  _How strong was this guy?_

Ted began to inspect the tube, reading his own plague, more confused than pissed off now.

"Listen to me. We have to get out of here, quick." Michael ushered, trying to tug Ted away from the tube, "They'll catch us. We need to leave, pronto."

"Explain to me what the hell is going on first." Ted spun around and faced Michael, not letting go of his wrist.

"Dude... you've been frozen in time for four-hundred and ten years." Michael explained quickly.

Ted was clearly quite confused now.

"We need to get out of here first. I'll explain the rest later." Michael reassured, but Ted didn't seem in a rush. He began to look around, still refusing to let go of Michael, looking at his own technology, and ignored Michael's pleas to leave the building. Michael eventually gave up. There would only be so much time before the museum reopened, and he hoped Ted would end his game of look-around before that time came. Finally, he stopped in the twenty-fifth century section. It was the emptiest of them all, as the century itself was only twenty-five years old.

"You aren't lying." he said, and let go of Michael's wrist. Michael let out a large sigh, rubbing his wrist, which had a large red mark around it due to Ted's grasp.

Ted began to poke at a machine.

" _Don't touch that_!" Michael exclaimed, grabbing Ted and pulling him back.

Ted ignored him and shoved him away.

"That's Rip Hunter's time machine. You don't want to mess with that." Michael warned.

"Time machine, huh?" Ted asked as a hologram popped up, "Well, I'm going back to my time, then."

"You don't understand."

" _You_ don't understand. I'm going back to my time, don't bother trying to stop me, kid." Ted said, almost too casually.

"You won't be able to hack through the time machine. It won't let you access it." Michael warned, and folded his arms sternly. Suddenly, the computer in the time machine read "ACCESS GRANTED". Michael's jaw dropped in surprise.

"Nice meeting you." Ted stood up as he waited for the time machine to prepare itself for travel. He turned to Michael, then suddenly peeked over his shoulder.

"What's this?" he asked as he trotted towards a suit behind Michael.

"That's a thing... a guy made... and then he died. So they put it on display to honor him or something." Michael explained, confused. He was never really intrigued by it, and it had only been added onto the display a few months ago. He suddenly jumped back as he heard a loud alarm blast through out the building, and the lights suddenly turned on.

Ted cursed to himself, and then commanded, "Grab it and go."

"Grab  _what_?!" Michael screeched over the blaring alarm.

" _The suit_!"

" _Why_ -"

" _Just do it!_ "

Michael nodded before grabbing the suit on display, and Ted lead him to the time machine and opened the door. Michael swiftly made his way inside, before Ted closed and locked the door. A hologram popped up, asking how many years they wanted to go back. One, fifty, one-hundred, two-hundred, three-hundred, four-hundred, or five-hundred.

"What year is it?" Ted barked above the alarm and voices of people outside.

"2425!" Michael exclaimed, holding tightly onto the suit. Ted made no hesitation in clicking the four-hundred option, and everything went dark.


	3. Chapter 2

**THE BATCAVE**

**FEBRUARY 5TH, 2025**

**10:39 EST**

"Wallace White." Dick said as he handed the identification card to Wally, "Birth date, May fourth, 1995. You're a new guy."

"Wallace White?" Wally asked, inspecting the card, "That sounds like Walter White from Breaking Bad. Did you-"

"Yes, I did that on purpose Wally, just because I'm Batman doesn't mean I can't make puns. As long as you aren't going bald or getting into any illegal drugs you should be fine." Dick reassured.

Wally laughed a bit, playfully punching his best friend, "Dude." he said, "We really, really,  _really_ , need to hang out."

**CENTRAL CITY**

**FEBRUARY 16TH, 2025**

**9:04 CT**

Barry Allen sat his mug of steaming coffee onto the kitchen table, looking at the newspaper held in his hands. On the first page of the paper was a picture of Wally in his Red Beetle form, in an interview with a reporter, a sly look on his face as usual. The headline read,  **NEW**   **BEETLE ARRIVES TO CENTRAL CITY**.

"Well, he's making quite the impact." Barry commented, "Probably as much as Inertia did a few weeks ago."

Artemis stopped biting her food mid-chew, and sighed.

"...Sorry." Barry apologized, then changed the subject quickly, "So, you and Wally found a house here really fast."

Artemis nodded, then asked, "Barry?"

Barry looked up at the blonde woman.

"Why do you... why do you still live here?" Artemis asked, knowing that this was the same house that his wife was killed in.

"Central City is my home- oh." Barry rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "Well... I feel like it's... out of respect. It's hard to explain."

Artemis nodded in acknowledgement. Since her, Wally, and Irey's stuff from their house back in California to Illinois, it would take about two or so days, and they decided that they would just stay here in Central City until the moving trucks arrived at their new, small house on the outer ends of town. Artemis and Irey decided to stay with Barry, Don, and Dawn, but Wally confessed staying the night in the house where he was forced to kill his own aunt felt weird and uncomfortable, so he just decided to stay with Bart and Jaime in their apartment.

Barry actually no idea in what part of the house that Iris was killed. Batman offered to show him what spot they found her body in, but Barry didn't want to know, and he felt better that he didn't know. Hell, Don and Dawn had no idea that Iris died inside of the house. They were told that she was killed in the European base, as he didn't want his children feeling uncomfortable knowing that they were living in the same house their own mother was murdered in.

"Do you miss being the Flash?" Artemis asked out of the blue.

Barry was silent for a few seconds before saying, "Yes, but I know it's best if I just accept that I'm getting old, and I have two super-powered twins to raise all by myself, and Iris' death just seems to add onto all of that stress. Having the responsibility of being the Flash on top of all of that would kill me. Bart's a good guy. He can handle it. He also has several people to help him."

"Seven." Artemis calculated, "Me, him, Wally, Jaime, Don, Dawn, and Irey. That's more than enough. You shouldn't feel required to have to join in. After all, who would Irey be if Bart was still Kid Flash and you were still Flash?"

"Impulse?" Barry laughed, and Artemis laughed as well.

**CENTRAL CITY**

**FEBRUARY 18TH, 2025**

**15:05 CT**

"Everything unpacked?" Artemis asked. Wally nodded in confirmation.

Irey flopped onto the old couch, stretching her arms and legs, and getting comfortable, and Artemis looked at her in uncertainty.

"I _know_  it feels weird," Wally whispered as he leaned over and wrapped his arms affectionately around his girlfriend, but she didn't seem to feel any better.

"Wally?" she asked.

"Hmm?" Wally responded.

"What did they do to him?" her concern high in her voice.

"I don't know, babe." Wally admitted, "He's..." but he didn't finish.

**CENTRAL CITY**

**FEBRUARY 21ST, 2025**

**16:19 CT**

" _I see him."_ Wally told Jaime from the eastern side of Central City, where the weather was so bad that nobody decided to leave their homes, " _He's with that guy_."

" _The one who's always holding the guns?_ " Jaime asked from the western side of Central City.

" _I know that guy, dude, I swear._ " Wally grunted, and then sent a mental image of the man to Jaime, " _Recognize him? At all?_ "

" _Doesn't ring any bells. Can you take a picture and send it to Bart and Irey to see if they know him?_ " Jaime requested, and Wally accepted. He snapped a picture with his hologram and sent it to Bart and Irey. After a few seconds, he received a response, from Irey.

**I've seen him before. He was always with Vandal Savage when I was captured.**

And then, a few seconds later, Inertia took off, laughing with a green streak behind him, and the man disappeared to the shadows.

"Bart?" Wally asked, activating his comm, as he could not mentally communicate with the Flash, "Do you know the guy?"

"Er... yeah." Bart admitted, "He's the guy who tortured me for all of those weeks."

" _Bart says it's the guy who tortured him._ " Wally informed Jaime.

" _Que? Are you serious?_ " Jaime asked, a voice of concern reflecting off of Wally's mind.

"Meta, do you know who he is?" Wally asked.

 _I am afraid not._ Meta confessed,  _The Reach never programmed me with his knowledge of his secret identification, only with the other members of the Light._

" _Well isn't that just great?_ " Jaime grumbled.

 _We cannot allow such threat to simply run around Central City._ Khaji commented.

 _Agreed,_ Meta began,  _we still do not know the location of the Light or the Reach. Though we have succeeding in crashing me and my host, and have freed the other Flashes, the threat of the Light and the Reach are still here._

" _I feel like I'm listening to two lawyers having a discussion when I hear you guys talk to each other._ " Wally commented, then laughed at the thought of scarabs being lawyers, being dressed in a suit and tie plus a briefcase. With the mental link established, Jaime received images from the thought, and laughed as well.

 _The term 'lawyers' would represent an inaccurate analogy. Neither I nor Meta are programmed for anything related to the subject of human politics._ Khaji seemed to be annoyed,  _I do not understand how you humans could find such thoughts amusing._

Inertia suddenly reappeared, coming to a sudden halt, holding something. Wally's scarab quickly scanned it.

_The Inertia is holding a human infant, roughly four months of age._

A woman began to scream, followed by a few gunshots.

" _Jaime, tell Kid and Flash to come right away. I'll take care of this."_ Wally informed, activating his jet pack and soaring to the ground loudly as he landed on all fours as he hit the pavement. Inertia swung around quickly, holding a crying baby in his hands. In the distance, he could see a small Asian woman, trying to get her baby, with Inertia's-probably-mentor behind her, laughing as he shot bullets into the air. A couple who braved-out the weather walking by stopped in their tracks, and hid behind a building. Wally ignored them.

"Look, kid." Wally began, approaching Inertia, "Give me the baby."

Wally suddenly realized, that he was huge. Inertia was  _huge,_ as if his body were to fit more of an athletic, built, preteen rather than a not-even-eight-year-old boy. He was about five-one, rather than when Wally last remembered him as roughly only four-two.

"Aww, but he's cute." Inertia cooed, snuggling the baby up to his face.

The woman who was being chased ran up next to Red Beetle for protection, and snow flew into the air as Kid Flash skidded to a halt next to her father, snarling at her traitor of a brother, with anger gleaming in her eyes, as Blue Beetle hovered in the air, sonic cannon aimed at Inertia and his partner.

"'I'llbetakingthat!" Bart said enthusiastically, running by quickly and grabbing the small baby, then running back to the mother and placing it in her arms.

The woman took this as a cue to run away, and they were left with simply silence, and a howling storm approaching, blowing their hair back and causing them to shield their eyes.

It was odd, standing so silently, just simply staring at each other, Jai's bright green eyes glowing, as if he were an animal. Bart felt a gasp as he was suddenly slammed into a brick building, the bricks cracking from the impact, Jai grinning as he held Bart against the wall, eyes still bright, laughing at the top of his lungs, and coming to an abrupt stop as he felt a surge of energy pass through his body, causing him to fall into the snow. Both Blue and Red Beetle had struck at the boy, the force of the two cannons simply too much for him to remain standing. Inertia's partner began to run towards them, only to be tripped by Kid Flash. Red Beetle ran at quick speeds, snow flying into the air behind him as he ran, and he picked up Inertia and his jet pack activated, the Beetle soaring into the air.

Jai began to kick at his dad with super speed, but none of it phased the armor. Wally only went higher into the air, until it was difficult for the boy to breathe.

"You won't kill me." Inertia said as he exhaled loudly, his breath visible.

" _What did they do to you_?" Wally demanded.

Inertia only laughed, and began to vibrate from his core, until green pulses of electricity began to surge through his body. Wally gasped as suddenly there was a bright green flash and the crack of sound, and he was blown back by the impact, causing him to lose his balance, and started to fall. He spun through the air, and could see Jai falling from the air as well, green bolts still crawling across his body.

_Armor damaged! Initiating repairs._

Within a second, Wally's armor was fully repaired, and he began to dive down towards Jai, moving as fast as he could to try and catch him. He gasped as Jai suddenly disappeared, only to realize that Jaime had caught him. Inertia jumped out of Jaime's arms and onto the snowy road once again, standing next to his partner, looking at his partner's now-gashed face and saying, "Maybe you should've worn the helmet this time, boss!"

His partner grunted, and whispered something to him before disappearing suddenly, and Inertia took off. Wally landed on the ground, and he, Bart, and Irey began to chase after him, following him in his tracks of avoiding cars, swerving around buildings, and noticing that Inertia was about to break the sound barrier, as green electric bolts (not yellow, which was unusual), covered his body. He then suddenly turned around at a one-hundred-eighty degree angle, bringing his arms out forward, and just before the other speedsters could skid to a halt, the boy clapped his hands together, sending out three green lightning of electricity, each one hitting a speedster in the chest. They let out shrieks of pain before collapsing to the ground.

Blue Beetle gasped as he landed on the road, initially not knowing what to do. Inertia was long gone. A few people who had been walking down the street stood still and watched in shock, their brains trying to register what happened. Blue ran up to Wally first, placing a hand on his damaged armor, before red lights began to surge through it, the technology from Blue's armor healing Wally right away, and the speedster-Beetle sat up quickly, eyes wide, gasping for air. Jaime let out a sigh of relief, as he wasn't sure if that would work.

"Red. Take KF. I'll take Flash. They need to go to the Watchtower right away." Blue told him. Wally simply nodded before picking up Irey and running towards the nearest Zeta Tube, and Jaime soaring through the air holding Bart, trying to keep up in some sort of way.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**FEBRUARY 21ST, 2025**

**19:56 EST**  
  
The beep of the machines were the only sounds that occupied the room. Wally and Jaime sat next to each other on a couch in the room, waiting desperately for Irey and Bart to wake up. Both were in civvies, and Jaime thought it almost made them look like they were just two guys waiting in a hospital, hoping to hear news on an injured friend. Wally would have received this thought, if their mental link wasn't shut down after Wally was struck in the chest, in which, neither of them have bothered to bring back up.

Batman entered the room, the squeak of the door being the loudest thing they have heard in a long time.

"I don't understand." he confessed as he approached the men, "Irey and Bart, you too Wally, have been struck with some sort of... reverse kinetic energy which damaged you guys. It's a whole new thing- I have no idea how the Reach could have given Inertia such powers from their test-tube experiments. From what we learned so far, this new energy inflicts physical pain and is some sort of... advanced tranquilizer for kinetic energy."

"So it wouldn't work on... non-speedsters?" Wally asked.

"We don't know." Batman confessed, "But I think it has something to do with re-routing Jai's DNA."

"Re-routing his DNA?" Jaime asked, "Is that why he looks different?"

"I think so." Dick replied,

"The best we can do for now is just wait for them to wake up. Well, at least I'm sure they'll... wake up."

**CENTRAL CITY**

**FEBRUARY 21ST, 2025**

**23:54 CT**

"Wally? Irey?" Artemis asked as she heard the front door squeak open.

Wally mumbled, rubbing his forehead, making his way towards the family room to see his beloved girlfriend. She was sitting on the couch, her laptop, writing a report for work, "Why were you out so late? Where's Irey?"

"Fuck." Wally mumbled to himself, "I thought I called you, or maybe I'm just hallucinating things now, I'm tired..." he struggled as he tried to sit himself down on the couch but was unable to, which caused Artemis to have to assist him.

"Babe, where's Irey?" Artemis repeated, the concern clear in the blonde's voice.

Wally groaned, then said, "She's in the Watchtower, recovering from an attack. But she should be... okay."

"What happened?" Artemis demanded.

"She..." Wally seemed to trail off, trying to find the right words, "Inertia." he decided simply.

Artemis seemed more sad than concerned, and sighed, burying her face in her hands, then as she removed her face, she said, "We'll... talk about this tomorrow, okay?"

Wally nodded groggily in agreement.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**FEBRUARY 22ND, 2025**

**8:16 EST**

"How'd you know?" Irey asked as she sipped at her apple juice.

"Wally loved juice. So I just took a wild guess." Dick admitted, pulling back his cowl and laughing.

Irey simply nodded before turning to Bart, who was munching away at a bag of Chicken Whizees.

"That's not a very healthy breakfast, Bart." Dick commented and laughed some more.

"Wawwy droffed 'em off. Bwame him." Bart said as he stuffed his mouth with more food.

Dick rolled his eyes before looking back at Irey, and asked what she wanted for breakfast.

"Do you guys have pancakes here?" she asked.

"Maybe. I'll be back in a few minutes." Dick replied, and Irey nodded before Dick left the room.

"Uncle Bart?" Irey asked. Bart turned his head curiously before Irey spoke once again, "What was life like growing up with my dad?"

"I didn't grow up with your dad. I only knew him for three months before he disappeared." Bart said in a confused tone, then his eyes widened.  _Shit._

"What do you mean?" Irey raised an eyebrow.

Bart sighed, setting down his bag of chips.

"It started when I built a time machine."


	4. Chapter 3

**CENTRAL CITY**

**FEBRUARY 22ND, 2025**

**9:07 CT**

"Irey, please, wait!" Wally cried, "Artemis didn't mean-"

Bart grabbed the back of Wally's armor and made him stop suddenly. Wally turned around, and hissed at Bart.

"What if she tells Don,  _huh_?"

"She  _won't_."

"You don't  _know_  that!" Wally screeched, and pushed Bart backwards.

"You don't know her like  _I_  do!" Bart screeched back.

Wally sighed, the orange lenses that covered his eyes glaring directly at Bart in anger.

"Trust me on this, okay?" Bart asked.

Wally looked down before saying,

"Fine."

**METROPOLIS**

**FEBRUARY 22ND, 2025**

**8:34 PCT**

She stopped suddenly, looking at the sign. METROPOLIS, HOME OF SUPERMAN it read, with a statue of the Man of Steel on top of the engraved concrete words. Irey decided that she was far away enough from Central City by now. Don was Bart's  _dad_? Bart was from  _the future_?  _They lied to her for all of this time_? In anger, the ginger girl kicked at a rock on the sidewalk she was on. This street was far too busy, and she decided, she'd go into the forest preserve. Taking off before anyone could spot her, the little girl made her way into the wooded area, and skidded to a halt suddenly. Two men were standing there, and she didn't want them to notice her running so quickly.

She hid behind a tree and waited for them to leave.

_"How am I supposed to get back?! It's broken!"_

_"You want to go back?!"_

_"Eventually, yes!"_

Irey narrowed her eyes, fixing them on the grey thing the men were standing next to. She quickly sped from tree to tree, until she could get a close enough look.

"I'm finding the Justice League." the brunet man said, "Come with me or stay here and whine."

The blond man folded his arms in annoyance, but then turned his head to a blue and gold suit lying on top of the grey machine.

"So why did you make me bring it with?" he asked.

"It intrigued me." the other confessed, scooping up the suit and began to walk away.

"That's stealing, y'know!" the blond man threw his hands up into the air.

"Well the Light tried to steal  _my scarab._ " the brown-headed man retorted. The blond sighed before following him.

Scarab? Light? How did these guys know about those things?

Irey was torn between following the men and going back and telling somebody. She eventually decided she'd follow them until they stopped, and then tell somebody. She wanted to hear more of their conversation.

"Can you tell me who the League is?" the blond asked.

"I'll show you." the brunet insisted, and after a while of following them, Irey realized that they had come to a stop, right in front of a Zeta Tube, in an emptier part of Metropolis.  _Now this guy knew where the Zetas where?_  Irey began to get more tense as the tube scanned him.

"Designation Watchtower. Blue Beetle A22, with guest." he said.

Blue Beetle?  _What?_

 _Recognized: Blue Beetle, A22,_ the computer confirmed.

The two men walked into the active Zeta, before disappearing. Irey watched, dumbfounded. She sped over to the Zeta, repeating the process that the man did, so she could catch him at the Watchtower, and stop whatever he was planning.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**FEBRUARY 22ND, 2025**

**10:47 EST**

_Recognized: Blue Beetle, A22._

"A22?" Batman asked, turning his head to the Zeta Tube, "Jaime?"

Getting a better look, he saw that the man was in fact, not Jaime. Instead, there were two men. He brought out his batarangs, preparing himself for an attack. " _Intruders_!" he barked.

Beast Boy and Miss Martian immediately began to charge at the two, and Michael screamed and tried to run, only to be pinned down by tiger-Garfield. Miss Martian used her mind to lift Ted into the air, and he grunted as he tried to escape her grasp.

_Recognized: Kid Flash, C17._

Irey stopped herself before she ran. She could see Miss Martian's eyes glowing a bright white, the man dangling in the air as he screamed. She suddenly gasped, losing her grip on the brunet, and he fell to the floor, groaning in pain.

"Miss M!" Batman cried as M'gann stumbled backwards, and he caught her right before she hit the floor as well. The man stood up, rubbing at his head.

"Bruce?" he asked, moving his eyes towards the Bat.

"Who're you?" he asked as he helped M'gann to her feet.

"Ted Kord." Ted and M'gann said in unison.

"Get this thing off of me!" Michael cried. Beast Boy responded with a snarl, which shut Michael up.

"Ted Kord?" Dick asked, pushing back his cowl to reveal his face to the man.

"That's me." Ted let out a nervous laugh, then said, "You're not Bruce."

"No, I'm not." Dick confirmed, "I'm Dick."

"Dick Grayson? Robin? Nightwing?" Ted asked.

Dick nodded, "Who's that guy?"

Ted admitted,

"I... honestly don't know."

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**FEBRUARY 22ND, 2025**

**11:56 EST**

"So you're from the future." Dick said.

"I... guess." Michael shrugged.

"We've been through something like this before, Dick." Red Robin reminded, resting his elbow on his considered-older-brother's shoulder.

"Oh, trust me, I know." Dick grumbled.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Michael asked.

"You're not the first time traveler we've gotten, to make things simple." Red Robin informed, then turned to Ted Kord, who was holding a suit.

"What's that?" he asked.

Ted Kord didn't respond verbally, he just handed the suit to Tim. Tim accepted the offer and continued to speak.

"So you were Blue Beetle." Tim reminded himself.

"I'm not Blue Beetle anymore?" Ted snorted somewhat.

"In all technicality... no." Tim said, rubbing the back of his neck.

Ted gave him a confused and curious look, and then Tim turned to Dick. "Do you want me to-"

"Do it." Dick nodded. Tim nodded after him. He activated his comm.

"Jaime? Yeah. Come to the Watchtower. Bring Bart. And Irey's here if you guys were looking for her, just wanted to let you know."

After a few minutes, the Zetas could be heard recognizing both Bart and Jaime. Bart was the first to enter the room, instantly stopping by Irey, who was sitting on the other side of Ted.

"Youdidn'ttellDondidyou?"

"No."

Bart let out a sigh of relief, then looked at Ted, "Whoisthisguy?"

Ted gave Bart a confused look before asking, "What did he say?"

"It's a thing he does." Jaime entered the room and rest a hand on Bart's shoulder, before reminding him to avoid the "fast-talk".

"So are these the guys you called in?" Ted asked and looked at Tim. Tim nodded.

"Hello hombre, I'm Blue Beetle, but you can call me Jaime." Jaime held out his hand for Ted to shake.

"I figured." Ted shrugged.

"Que?"

Ted stood up from his seat to stand at Jaime's height level, and shook his hand, the confused expression on Jaime not leaving his face.

"I'm also Blue Beetle. Nice to meet you." Ted said almost to casually, as if it weren't a big deal.

Jaime stood in silence and shock, after about twenty seconds, he asked, "Ted- Ted Kord?"

Ted nodded, "I see you've got the scarab."

"I-I yeah." Jaime confirmed.

"Well isn't  _this_  exciting!" Bart exclaimed, wrapping himself around Jaime, "Mentor-apprentice reunion sort of thing! Idon'tunderstandhowthehellthisisevenpossiblebutokay!"

"I never had the scarab." Ted explained, ignoring whatever Bart had just fast-talked, "The most we have in common is the name. I'm guessing you and had Khaji Da had some problems?"

"Si. But those were a long time ago. There was this whole Reach alien invasion thing." Jaime explained.

"And sort of not a long time ago." Bart added.

"What happened last month had nothing to do with me. It was just Wally." Jaime retorted.

"This is cool and all, but what's going on?" Michael chimed in.

Red Robin handed the suit back to Michael, "Take this."

"Huh?"

"It's from your time era, I can only assume you know it best."

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**FEBRUARY 22ND, 2025**

**21:18 EST**

"So, let me get this straight." Micheal said as he sat up in his bed, "I've been confused all day."

"You talk too much." Ted muttered from his bed across the room, lying down on his side, facing the wall.

" _Ted_." Michael grumbled in annoyance, getting out of his bed, and shoving the man slightly to get him to respond.

"What do you want to know?" Ted asked as he sat up.

"Just explain the whole thing. Why there's two people called Blue Beetle. Why I've never heard of the Justice League or any of their members. How the Bart guy is a time traveler too."

"You think I can answer those questions the best?" Ted rolled his eyes, "I've literally been frozen in time for the past four hundred years, and you're asking me this stuff?"

"I never said you could answer them the best. Now hurry up because it's cold in here and I don't feel like putting on a shirt." Michael explained.

Ted sighed, and then began to speak, "The scarab is what is attached to Jaime's back. I knew the scarab was of alien origin, so I didn't bother to take it on, and instead, preserved it. I still took on the mantle of Blue Beetle, after my mentor died. He had the scarab on his back as well. The Light was after me one night, they wanted the scarab. There was an explosion, and I... died. Jaime told me that he was skateboarding by my building when the explosion happened, and he saw the scarab, so he picked it up, and it attached itself to him. You can only give me an explanation from here."

"Ra's Al Ghul dug up your grave." Michael began, "He 'reformed' you somehow, bringing you back to life, in the year 2015. That's when you died, right?"

Ted nodded.

"The Light decided they wanted to preserve you, so they kept you in a tube for all of these years, and eventually ended up displaying you at the museum."

Ted sighed, "Question."

"Hmm?"

"What do you know about the time machine?"

"Huh?"

"What do you know about the time machine?"

"Um... I never really read it, but it turns out they found it buried underneath the ground a few years ago. My few years ago. They didn't know what century it was from, so they just put it in the twenty-fifth century section, as it was the one with the most space. Why?"

"Well, the time machine is what saved us. I was just curious."

"Oh."

"You said the Light were the presidents before." Ted brought up a new subject.

"Yeah."

"How'd they become the presidents?"

"They've been the presidents for several-hundred years."

"You do realize that they're evil, right?" Ted pointed out.

"They are?"

"Very." Ted confirmed, "And if they're what you say they are in the future, then that's a problem."

"I don't understand." Michael informed, "They never let us know of your guys' existence, but-"

"Were you allowed to leave the planet?" Ted asked suddenly.

"No. They cut off communication with Mars or any other planets about two-hundred years before I was even born." Michael explained.

"Tell me all about your life." Ted insisted, "I want to know what's different."

"But the shirt thing-"

"Just  _tell_ me."

Michael sighed, "My mom died and my dad left us. I lived on the streets with my sister. She died last year...ish. My last year. 2424. We finally got taken in by a man when we were seven or eight, who never had a name, and simply referred to himself as 'The Man'. He wasn't that much richer than us, hell, most people weren't, but after living with him for a while, I took interest in playing football with the other boys on the street, and she took an interest in cheer leading. After a while, we both managed to get good at them, and someone who worked at the college took notice of us. Note that most of the people who had decent homes, jobs or went to school were either related to the Light somehow or worked in the Light government- we got pretty lucky. We were both offered scholarships at the Gotham University to play for their teams. I never actually got educated there- they just wanted me for football and wanted me to give them a good image. Same situation for my sister. So we got to do what we enjoyed, but we never got any money out of it."

"Go on." Ted Kord encouraged.

"My dad decided to re-enter my life one day and offered to give me money if I purposely lost my football games. I was stupid and I was desperate, so I did. The University found out and expelled me. Since I no longer had football occupying my life, I began to get jobs, which gave me money, but I was extremely unhappy. Eventually, I got a job at the Metropolis Space Museum, and I worked there for nine months before I decided to let you out." Michael explained.

"Why did you let me out?" Ted raised an eyebrow.

"You intrigued me." Michael teased.

"Very funny." Ted rolled his eyes before going back onto a more serious topic, "How'd your sister die? If you don't mind-"

"No, I don't." Michael reassured, "She was killed by the police after she stole some food from a store for a homeless person."

"She was  _killed_ for that?" Ted asked, shocked.

"Food is scarce. The Light felt as if a person had no use to them, they didn't deserve to eat their limited food supply." Michael sighed, "What happens if somebody steals food in these days?"

"Jail, at most." Ted told him, "It wasn't like she was stealing it for herself either."

"I know."

A few seconds of silence passed before Michael spoke again, "I'm gonna go to sleep now."

Ted turned back on his side before saying, "You go do that."

"Surely."

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**FEBRUARY 23RD, 2025**

**8:15 EST**

"Thanks for coming up to see us, even though we met... yesterday." Ted said amusingly as he sat at the table with Michael, Bart, and Jaime.

"Are you kidding me hermano? I've been wanting to meet you for the past ten years!" Jaime's tone was almost too enthusiastic.

"Areyougoingto-"

"Yes, Bart, I am going to eat that." Jaime informed, nudging his plate away from the speedster.

"You guys banter a lot." Michael commented before stuffing scrambled eggs in his mouth.

Bart shrugged before running off with his plate and returning with a stack of pancakes.

The rest of the breakfast consisted of Bart and Jaime explaining the events of the Reach that happened nine years ago, how Bart built a time machine in the year 2056 to go back in time and save Jaime, and how the scarab was put on-mode and off-mode.

"Glad I didn't touch the thing." Ted said afterwards, "Sounds like that was pretty terrifying."

"It happened to our friend Wally, too, only a month ago." Jaime told him, "He's the Red Beetle. Also Irey's dad, the girl you saw yesterday."

"Sheesh, this is complicated." Michael commented.

Jaime and Bart began to explain the event that happened the prior month, and by the time that was done, every one of the plates were well empty.

"We're still looking for the Light and the Reach." Jaime told them, "Nothing."

Michael hesitated for a few moments before speaking, "In the future, the Light are the... presidents."

"Exactly what year are you from, ese?" Jaime asked, a tone of worry in his voice.

"2425. I was born on May 5th, 2400. They've been the presidents ever since I could remember. Long before I was born."

**CENTRAL CITY**

**FEBRUARY 23RD, 2025**

**11:15 CT**

Wally sighed as he rubbed his temples, trying to rid of his headache.

"This is all being thrown at me too fast." he admitted.

"Ironically." Bart rolled his eyes.

"Have you heard of Inertia before, Michael?" Artemis asked.

"Yeah. There's a hall dedicated to former members of the Light." Michael told them, "He died from old age, exactly three-hundred years before I was born."

"What about Lex Luthor? Klarion? Queen Bee? Brain? Black Manta? Have you ever heard of the Reach? Ambassador? Scientist?" Wally chirped in.

He thought for a moment, "Klarion was still alive, and so was Brain. Lex Luthor was technically alive, but not physically. He used his technology to keep his mind alive, but his actual physical body died. It's complicated. Queen Bee and Black Manta are both dead. And no, Wally... that's your name, right? I haven't heard of them." Michael sighed, "I can't tell you much more than I already have. It's all I know."

"Trust me, you've helped a lot." Artemis reassured.

"So... we have to find Inertia." Wally concluded.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**FEBRUARY 23RD, 2025**

**14:14 EST**

"Are you gonna try it on?" Ted asked as he admired the suit that now hung up on the wall at his and Michael's room in the Watchtower.

"No?" Michael seemed confused, turning his head towards the brunet, raising an eyebrow, "You were interested in it. Why don't you try it on?"

"Not from my time." Ted shrugged.

"You're scared, aren't you?" Michael asked.

"No." Ted folded his arms.

"Yes you are." Michael teased, sticking out his tongue.

"I am  _not_." Ted growled.

"Yes you-"

"Just try it  _on_!" Ted grumbled in impatience and frustration.

"What happened to you?" Michael asked, this time in a tone of concern rather than tease.

"What?" Ted asked, clearly confused.

"From what I learned, before you 'died'," Michael used his fingers for quotation marks, "you were a 'lighthearted, humorous man'. What happened to that? This entire time, you've been nothing but pissed off and far too serious."

Ted scowled for a moment, a lock of his hair falling over his right eye, then with a quick shake of his head, he sighed, and said, "I don't know. Okay?"

"M'kay." Michael responded, then threw his shirt and pants in Ted's face, causing a yelp of surprise from the brunet. He slipped on the suit with ease, and played with the goggles somewhat, adjusting the straps.

"So does it do anything special?" Ted asked, tossing Michael's clothes onto his bed.

"Maybe?" Michael asked, then suddenly, a loud "zip" was heard before the wall exploded into bits, debris crumbling to the floor, smoke making it's way into the room.

Ted and Michael stood still, wide eyes, in silence.

"Uhh..." Michael trailed off.

Smoke alarms began to go off, and Batman rushed into the room with Wonder Woman.

"What happened?" Batman demanded.

Michael tried to explain,

"We... this suit thing... it's...  _powerful_."


	5. Chapter 4

**THE BATCAVE**

**FEBRUARY 23RD, 2025**

**2:07 EST**

"Stop." Damian commanded as he put a hand on Dick's shoulder, "Go to bed."

"Can't..." Dick muttered, not moving a muscle below his neck, continuing to focus on the microscope below him, a hologram processing data behind him.

"It's only been a day." Damian reminded, placing his arms over Dick's shoulders and peering his head on the left side of Dick's face.

"Since when did you get so affectionate?" Dick asked as he felt Damian's touch, but not in a teasing way.

"Since my twenty-eight-year-old partner started doing things that'll make him forty-eight." Damian told him.

"I'm not moving." Dick said stubbornly, continuing his hours-upon-hours study of the reverse-kinetic-energy that Inertia possessed.

"I'm gonna get Bruce." Damian warned.

"He doesn't scare me." Dick said bravely.

"Yes he does." Damian corrected.

"Okay, fine he does." Dick sighed, "You win."

Damian smiled in satisfaction.

**CENTRAL CITY**

**FEBRUARY 23RD, 2025**

**17:09 CT**

He would find himself stalking, as if he were a cat awaiting to pounce on it's prey. Watching from the rooftops, eyes narrowed, focus only upon the street below him.

There. There he was again.

There. There he was gone.

Wally grumbled in frustration.

" _Give yourself a break, hermano._ "

" _Jaime? What do you want? Aren't you at a work meeting or something?_ "

" _Yes..._ "

" _Then how did you know I was looking for Inertia?_ "

" _I can see you outside my window, ese. Seriously. Everyone's looking at you. You should get out of there and go home. Relax_."

Wally's eyes shifted from the streets to the buildings around him. He could see clearly, that yes, everyone inside them was crowding around the windows to look at him.

" _Fine, fine, I will._ "

Wally's armor shifted into a jet pack and he took off towards the sky, navigating his way towards home. In all honesty, the speedster wasn't a fan of flying, and even though he could still run at his full speed with his armor active, he didn't feel like taking the effort to dodge cars, buildings, and pedestrians. He flew high enough to be above skyscrapers, yet low enough to avoid airplanes. When he was finally close enough, he allowed himself to drop into a tall tree in the backyard of he and Artemis' house, where his armor deactivated, and he hopped out of the tree, just a regular guy. Taking his house key out of the pocket of his coat, he entered through his backdoor. The door squeaked as it opened, and the speedster-Beetle looked around. Artemis was gone and Irey was asleep on the couch, which wasn't an uncommon thing, Wally learned. He sat down at the kitchen table, and began to think.

Another time traveler? Ted Kord back to life?

Wally soon found himself thinking like Lagoon Boy when he was in the Watchtower on January seventeenth, how Lagoon Boy claimed him of being a product of the Light, some sort of clone. Wally was no longer mad at the green Atlantean for his accusations, because, well, he was kind of right. Wally was of course, sent back by the Reach. Could it be possible that Ted and Michael were the same way? Yet again, it was impossible, the Reach ship was destroyed and the Reach have no useful technology anymore, or none that's in their control (to which, being Khaji Da and Meta), but what of the Light? They could have a thousand more hidden bases with all kinds of technology. Ted and Michael could have been simply to fool them. M'gann, of course, read both of their minds to make sure they were who they said they were, but yet again, clone Roy, about fourteen years ago, he was programmed with the memories of the original Roy, so if Miss Martian were to read his mind, she would only find the memories from the real Roy and not what the Light was planning, because clone Roy was completely convinced he was the real Roy, and maybe that same situation applied to Ted and Michael? Except Batman studied Rip Hunter's time machine, (hell, who was Rip Hunter?), and could confirm they came from the future, yet again Michael claims that the Light has the control over the world in the future, and-

_You are forcing high levels of stress upon your body. Recommended tactic: relax._

"You don't understand how great that sounds right now." Wally commented, "But I can't relax."

_Putting your body underneath various amounts of stress will not solve any problem that you are facing as of currently. Scans are showing that your body is undergoing exhaustion. You must rest, Wallace, it is the most highly recommended tactic I have for you to solve your problem. I can list substitute methods, though they will not be as effective._

"No, don't bother." Wally yawned, "You're right."

_I am glad that we can agree upon such._

Wally began to make his way towards his bedroom, opened the door and plopped himself onto his bed, only bothering to take off his shoes before he fell asleep.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**FEBRUARY 23RD, 2025**

**21:02 EST**

"So we have to sleep with a hole in our wall and a sheet over it? Why can't you just give us a new room?" Michael asked, studying the hole he made from the suit earlier.

Batman narrowed his eyes, "It may be a surprise to you, but space here is limited, and all of your supplied clothes are already neatly tucked in your drawers." he explained as if he were a mother, "Now get some rest."

Michael and Ted waited for him to leave before deciding to move. Ted took off his shoes and shirt and immediately slipped into his bed, turning towards the wall. Michael stood for a few seconds before he started to rustle, and then yelped and there was a bang heard on the floor. Ted sat up, asking if the blond was okay.

"Are you-" his eyes widened, " _why did you_ -"

"I pissed myself a little when Batman glared at me!" Michael complained, "I needed a new pair of boxers!"

Ted groaned in annoyance before flipping back on his side, trying to shake the image out of his mind.

"Stop acting like you've never seen a dick before." Michael snapped, before quickly putting some boxers and pants on and jumping into his bed, "Actually, my bad, you've probably never seen a big dick before."

"Mature." Ted muttered from the other side of the room, "Go to sleep and let's forget about that."

"You know, the first person who saw it besides me was a chick on the cheer-leading team. She seemed to like it. I was eighteen, and we were-"

" _I don't want to hear about it_."

"Wanna hear about my first time with a man?"

" _No_!"

"It was on a playground in broad day-"

"Michael,  _shut up_."

"He was a screamer. ' _Fuck me Booster, fuck me!_ '-"

Michael sat up quickly from his bed, "Would you please _stop_?! I _don't_ want to hear about your sexual experiences!"

A knock was heard on the wall before Superman pulled back the sheet and entered through the hole, a look of concern on his face.

"Everything alright in here?"

"We're... fine. Just a little... dispute." Ted sighed, "Sorry, Clark."

"It's alright." Clark gave a happy-but-still-slightly-concerned smile before exiting the same way he entered.

"Sorry." Michael apologized a few seconds after Clark's exit.

"Why are you so comfortable with me already?" Ted looked Michael directly in the eyes.

"What do you mean?" Michael raised an eyebrow.

"You literally were just about to tell me, most likely in graphic detail, your first time with a cheerleader and your first time with a dude." Ted pointed out, and to Michael's surprise, almost laughed a little.

"Oh." Michael realized, "Well, I guess it's just... I haven't really had anyone to talk to in four years pretty much. My four years. You know what I mean. Since I was expelled. Never held a  _real_  conversation with anyone... or... y'know, had a friend. Yeah."

"We've only known each other for two days." Ted pointed out.

"Going on three. Happy three day anniversary of knowing you, Teddy Bear." Michael teased before flipping onto his side.

A tint of pink hit Ted's cheeks, "Don't call me that."

"It's a good nickname." Michael insisted, still staring at the wall, "Y'know, I said 'don't call me Booster', but that didn't end up being the way I wanted it to be. Eventually I ended up embracing it."

"Booster?"

"It was my name when I was in football. I thought it was bland compared to my sister's cheer-captain nickname. Goldstar." Michael explained, then yawned, "Goodnight, Teddy Bear."

"Goodnight, _Booster_."

**CENTRAL CITY**

**FEBRUARY 24TH, 2025**

**10:00 CT**

"Wallace White, correct?" the interviewer asked as he looked down at his paper.

"We- I mean, yes." Wally stammered nervously.

"It states here on your résumé that you have had experience as a waiter." the interviewer smiled, "I like you already."

Of course, that was total bullshit. Dick had just put a bunch of history-lies on Wally's record, but Wally nodded anyways. He needed a job.

"Bart Allen is the one who recommended you, your cousin, correct?" the interviewer asked.

"Yes. I'm actually the one who talked him into getting a job as a waiter here in Central City." Wally told him, making firm eye contact, hoping to impress the guy.

"Are you? So why'd you switch work places?" the interviewer asked.

"The previous restaurant I worked at closed down just recently." Wally informed.

"Oh? Was it the Jack's Burgers down the street?" the interviewer asked.

"Y-yes." Wally stammered quickly.

The interviewer seemed confused for a second, but then began to talk again, but this time, he didn't ask a question.

"Place was destined to fail anyways. Poor pay for the workers, unsanitary, bad quality food..."

"Yup. I didn't like it there. Bart says that this is a good working place, which is why I'm interested in working here." Wally answered the 'Why do you want to work here?' question before the interviewer could ask. Of course, Wally knew that Bart didn't enjoy it, and he warned Wally of the overly-flirtatious strangers and the young families who brought in loud, small children.

The interviewer smiled and continued to ask questions and added comments, asking for Wally for his opinion on a few things, and overall, Wally concluded, the interview went well. He was confident he'd get the job.

**FORTRESS OF SOLITUDE**

**FEBRUARY 24TH, 2025**

**8:09 EST**

"So from what I've figured out so far," Michael said, lifting up his wrist, "Point your arm straight outwards in a fist, then un-clench the fist, and it shoots some sort of plasma-thing."

"Yes." Clark agreed, looking uneasily at the black marks the plasma blasts from the suit Michael was wearing left on the walls of his fortress.

"Sorry." Michael apologized quickly.

"Nonsense, it's a necessity." Superman reassured, "I'd rather have you test it and learn to control it here rather than blow more holes in the Watchtower."

Ted simply nodded in agreement.

"These goggles." Michael said, placing them on his face, "Infrared and magnetism. Nice." he smiled. He then began to inspect the rest of the suit, and stumbled upon the belt. Nothing was on it, and it seemed as if it were just for decoration. He pressed on what seemed to be the button of the belt, and then gasped as a dim-transparent glow quickly encased his body securely as if it were a blanket.

"What is it?" Ted asked, curiously poking at the glow, then raised an eyebrow curiously as he realized he wasn't physically touching Michael, just the glow. He quickly swung an unexpected punch at Michael, who gasped and stumbled back somewhat, but seemingly unaffected overall.

"Why'd you-"

"Force-field. That's what I thought." Ted confirmed in a satisfied manner.

Michael clicked the "buckle" of his belt again, and the glow faded.

The next few hours consisted of a bit more experimenting with the suit, more plasma blasts blackening the fortress, to which, Ted could see the Man of Steel cringe every time a blast was made.

"I think I've got the handle of it." Michael finally said, and Superman seemed to sigh in relief,

"Great, now let's get back to the Watchtower and let the rest of the League know about it."

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**FEBRUARY 24TH, 2025**

**11:17 EST**

Red Robin poked at the suit for a few moments before nodding happily, insisting he was correct when he said that Michael would know the suit best.

"So what are you gonna call yourself?" he asked.

"Michael?" Michael responded, clearly confused by the question.

Wonder Girl began to laugh, "Fear me, for I am the almighty  _Michael_!"

" _Cass_." Tim scolded and slightly elbowed her.

"He means your code-name. Or hero-name." Ted explained, "Tim here is Red Robin, Cassandra is Wonder Girl."

" _Oh_." Michael realized, "Well, I feel like an idiot now."

"Don't be too hard on yourself." Tim told him, "So, any ideas?"

"Sort of."

"Sort of?"

"Booster. But I want to be more than just 'Booster'. I feel like I need to add something to it." Michael tried to explain as simply as possible.

Red Robin nodded, saying "I need to catch up with Batman. Excuse us." before walking off with his newly-wedded wife.

"Booster?" Ted asked a few moments after Tim and Cassie left, "You do realize that becoming a hero takes months to years of training, right? And not just in physical aspects."

"I uh... I'm new to this, Ted." Michael admitted.

"You should feel lucky we managed to land in this time," Ted began, "If Bruce Wayne were Batman, I just  _know_ he would go crazy about you. The new guy? I have no idea."

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**FEBRUARY 24TH, 2025**

**11:30 EST**

"Who is it?" Batman asked as he heard knocking on the other side of his door.

"Red Robin and Wonder Girl." Tim answered from the other side.

Dick sighed before pressing a button and allowing the doors to open. Of course, he could have just pulled up a window which showed him who was on the other side, but there were already holograms all over the place, and right now, he just needed some eyes-off-screen, even if it was only for a few moments. He spun his chair around to face Tim and Cassie as they entered the room.

"So it seems Michael's gotten control over the suit." Tim informed.

"Has he now?" Dick asked as he studied a batarang that had been laying on his desk for no apparent reason, not making eye contact with the former Robin.

"He said he's still deciding on a name." Tim also informed, slightly annoyed that the Bat wouldn't look him in the eyes, yet again, it wasn't an uncommon thing for the Bat to look and study and weapon whilst sitting at a desk. It was just a Dick Grayson thing, Tim learned.

"He's  _what_?" Dick asked, narrowing his eyes, setting the batarang down in his lap and turned his head to look directly at Tim, both of them looking at each other through the whites of their cowls, then turned to Cassie asking her to leave so he could have a private conversation with Tim. The blonde nodded respectfully before leaving. Tim began to speak again.

"I said he's-"

"No, I meant,  _why_? Did you really think he was gonna be working with the League anytime soon? We barely know a thing about him!" Dick exclaimed.

"Nightwing let Impulse on the Team nine years ago." Tim pointed out, almost smiling but in a mischievous way.

"But that was  _different_!" Dick claimed, "We knew his bloodlines, his relation to Barry and Wally. And anyways, he lied to us. What if this guy was lying to us too? We can't trust him, at least not yet."

"Bart had a  _good reason_  to lie." Tim countered, "He didn't want to risk messing up the time-stream. Hell, you sterilized his own dad!"

"It was  _necessary_!" Batman was yelling by now, "You really think I  _wanted_  to?!"

"This is getting off topic," Tim sighed, placing a hand on his forehead, "I say we trust him, at least a little bit."

Dick turned back to his multiple-holograms before pulling up a window. It was a picture of Michael on the top left corner, reading his full name on the top.

"If he's not lying, this is what we know about him so far, and he wrote this, by the way," Dick began, "My name is Michael Jon Carter. I was born on May fifth, 2400 along with my twin sister in Gotham, New York. Our mom died when we were five, and our dad left a year before that because he gambled away all of our money. We were all alone and lived on the streets for two years, asking for food, occasionally stealing it, luckily, we never got caught. We usually slept underneath bridges and in-between buildings. A man who had no name (we called him 'The Man') finally offered us a home when we were about seven. He had a shack, in which we slept in. We didn't get much more food than we did when we lived on the streets (I'm actually surprised he took us in). In my era, the Light rules everything that I know of, and people who didn't work for the Light government or had some sort of blood or marriage relation to the Light didn't live a very luxurious life like they did. During our stay with The Man, my sister and I managed to get poor-paying jobs, but jobs nonetheless. They were usually to stock things on shelves or to clean. We both took interests in sports; me, football. My sister, cheer-leading. I would play football with the boys and girls who were interested in the sport, and she would cheer-lead with the boys and girls who took interest in the sport as well. This went on for several years, both of us became very skilled in what we did, and eventually, a man who worked at the Gotham University noticed both of us. He offered us both scholarships to play there. We were never offered an education, however, they just wanted us to go there to make their sports team look better. We both said yes. When I was twenty-one, my dad decided to contact me again, offering me money if I purposely lost my football games. I was still very poor and wanted a better life, and I wasn't thinking straight, so I said yes. The university found out and expelled me. I hopped from job to job for four years before making my way to Metropolis, and securing a job as a night guard in the Metropolis Space Museum. By the time I was there, my sister was dead, killed by police after she attempted to steal food to give it to a person who was even poorer than us, so I often found myself thinking about her when I was patrolling. Ted Kord had been in the 21st century section of the museum, died on July 18th of the year 2015, but was brought back to life by Ra's Al Ghul (I don't know how he did). And was put in a tube to maintain his body and make him forever time-frozen. He was put on display at the museum when it was built in the year 2209, and he intrigued me. I knew the pass-code to his tube, and I thought about my sister again, how she always took risks, and I thought I might as well let him out, because that's what she would have wanted. So after working there for nine months, I let him out, and he thought I was a member of the Light, trying to steal his scarab. He thought we were in one of his buildings, not in the Space Museum. He grabbed me and wouldn't let go, and walked around the museum. By the time we got to the 25th century section, he found Rip Hunter's time machine, and somehow hacked through it, which alerted security systems. He told me to grab the gold and blue suit and get in the machine. I did, and he set the time machine to go back four-hundred years, and that's when we arrived here."

"So even if he isn't lying," Dick began, "he let greed for money get in the way of his life. That's not a hero quality."

"Plastic Man." Red Robin pointed out.

"That's true." Dick admitted, "But Plastic Man didn't come from the future. And I know this guy did. So did Ted. I can't entirely trust Ted either."

"He went through the Zetas just fine." Red Robin countered.

"So did clone Roy back in 2010." Dick countered back.

Red Robin sighed, "Well, he's only a human. If he's that dangerous, we can take the suit away. Impulse had superpowers." he thought about the memory, "The superpower to blow a napkin in my face."

"We'll have to think about it, Tim." Dick confirmed, "I'll need Miss M to do a deeper scanning of their minds once again, for a precaution."

"If you distrust them that much, why allow them access to stay in the Watchtower?" Tim asked.

"We have cameras everywhere, and they usually hang around the dorm area or the kitchen. No secrets being hidden there." Dick informed.

"A few. Hiding food in the back of the freezer, for instance." Tim said humorously, then narrowed his eyes, "Damn Bart stole my chicken sand-"

"We'll just have to wait and see if the guy has hero potential, and he's gonna require months of training." Dick told him.

Tim shook his head, trying to get his mind away from the chicken sandwich thought,

"I know that."

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**FEBRUARY 26TH, 2025**

**4:18 EST**

Aqualad stumbled backwards from the swing of Michael that caught him off guard.

"You are learning fast." he commented as he dodged the second swing after that, attempting to make one of his own but he dodged it as well.

"First the mind test, now this... I'm amazing aren't I?" Michael smirked.

Kaldur had an expressionless face as he grabbed Michael's wrist with precision as Michael made his third swing, and Kaldur flipped him over, colliding his back with the ground.

"No. Not yet." Kaldur informed as he offered a hand to help the wincing man off the floor.

Ted, who was leaning against the back of the wall, let out a slow clap before saying, "Y'know what they say when blonds fight. Crazy shit goes down."

Aqualad let out a small laugh as Michael finally got onto his feet, still wincing, rubbing at his back.

"Where's the other time traveler guy? Bart?" Michael asked as he turned his head towards Ted.

"Work. He's a waiter in a restaurant in Central City." Kaldur informed for him.

"Where does he work?" Michael asked.

"Hooters. On 647 Greenroad." Ted answered quickly.

Aqulad rolled his eyes, until he saw Ted typing away at his hologram, putting in the address.

"No!" he shouted.

Ted began to snicker, "Way to ruin a nice surprise, Kaldur."

"What's going on?" Michael asked, raising an eyebrow.

"That is not where he works." Kaldur told him, "You should not feel the need to visit him at work either. He's busy."

**CENTRAL CITY**

**FEBRUARY 26TH, 2025**

**3:27 CT**

After a quick explanation from Bart, Wally was already working away at the restaurant. So far he had come across a few grumpy young children, but mostly, quiet and polite easygoing elders who left decent tips. Of course, it was still early in the day, only his first day, and a weekday. He was very inexperienced compared to Bart, who had been working there for two or so years. Wally liked the feeling of having somebody he knew around if he needed any sort of guidance, but Bart would be leaving in about three months to work with Barry, and Wally knew he'd be left alone, probably would have to go back to college for some sort of degree so he could get a higher-paying job. Artemis had a master's degree and a great job, but feeding children, on top of that, speedster children, was very expensive. Still, on top of all of her cash, Dick would occasionally give her some money to support the speedsters. Now Jai was gone, but Wally himself was back, and even though he wasn't a child, an adult speedster ate a lot more than a child speedster, just like regular people.

A few more hours passed before the manager suggested that he and Bart take a break, because they've been "speeding around all day" and it must be a thing that "runs in the family". Wally could see his own amusement reflect off Bart's face. They went behind the building, where there was a bench. Bart wiped the snow off of it before sitting down.

"Why are we outside?" Wally asked, and although he had a coat on, he still shivered.

"I wanna talk about Ted and Michael." Bart asked, "Do you trust them?"

Wally bit his lip for a moment before saying, "It's only been four days. I can't make a decision on whether I trust them yet."

"What does Meta think about it?" Bart asked.

_I am unfamiliar with the two future-beings, therefore, I rationally do not trust them._

"He says no." Wally informed.

"Typical scarab." Bart laughed somewhat, "I'm sure Khaji would say the same."

_Inaccurate. I am not a direct copy of the Khaji Da. I am programmed with several differences, one of them being to work with Wallace's meta-human genetics, the Khaji Da is not programmed to do such with any meta-human genetics. I am a more complex being._

"I think you're just jealous." Wally teased.

_I do not feel emotion._

"Whatever, Kanye West." Wally continued to tease the scarab.

_Kanye West: species: human being, race: black, age: 47, career: "rapper" from planet Earth, continent: North America, country: United States, state: Illinois, city: Chicago. Significant other: Kim "Kardashian" West, offspring: North West. I am an artificial intelligence. I am nothing like the Kanye West._

"That Reach woman should have programmed 'humor' into you." Wally laughed. Bart raised an eyebrow, confused as ever.

"He thinks he's better than Khaji." Wally explained quickly.

_I am more complex than Khaji Da._

"Nu uh." Wally retorted.

_Wallace West, if you are going to keep up this behavior, I will explain to the greatest detail as to why I am more complex than the Khaji Da, and you will have to endure all of it. Do not make me do such._

"Mom, how'd you get into my scarab?" Wally asked.

_WALLACE._

"Fine, fine, I'll stop." Wally finally gave in, then turned to Bart and asked, "How often does this happen between Jaime and his scarab?"

"Not as much as it used to." Bart told him, "You guys got way off topic there. We went from discussing Ted and Michael, then you guys went to Kanye West and moms. The hell?"

Wally shrugged, then went back to the relevant topic, "Megan scanned their minds again. Nothing suspicious, she said. And neither Ted nor Michael protested against the second test."

"I guess that's true." Bart said, then sighed, "The whole Jai thing is starting to bother me though."

"It's  _starting_  to?" Wally asked in annoyance and surprised, "It's been bothering me for a fucking  _month_!"

"Calm down." Bart commanded, "Sorry. I didn't mean to make you upset."

Wally sighed, then sighed once again.

"Can we go back inside?" he asked.

"Sure." Bart said, then wiped off the snow that landed in his hair before opening the squeaky back door and entering.

Another few hours had passed. By now, it was roughly seven-thirty. Two more hours to go, Wally, he told himself. As he was setting down food for a teenage couple at a small table, he perked his head as he heard a voice. He recognized it from somewhere. The teens quickly thanked him before Wally watched from the distance. He instantly recognized Jaime, who was talking to Bart.

"We need to talk."

"About what?"

"Just tell your manager there's been a family emergency. I'll tell you soon; no time to explain."

Bart paused for a moment before saying, "Okay."

Wally continued to watch, wondering what was wrong. Bart was gone for about thirty seconds until he returned, and they left through the front door. Why hadn't Jaime bothered to tell Wally what happened?

_"Dude, what happened?"_

_"Que?"_

_"Was there an accident or something? Why didn't you bring me with?"_

_"I have no idea what you're talking about, hermano."_

_"Dude! You literally just walked into the restaurant and told Bart that there was a family emergency and left with him. Please tell me you're not gonna have a quickie or something."_

_"What?! No! I'm at the apartment watching Mean Girls."_

_"But... how?"_

_"Ese, that's NOT me. Go see what's going on NOW."_

Wally looked left and right before super-speeding his way out of the door, silently following Bart and impossible-Jaime from a distance.

Jaime took a left turn, into a small alley between the restaurant and another building. Wally's eyes narrowed, and he sped up, until he was peeking around the corner. He gasped as the pretend-Jaime faded away and took on the form as Klarion, holding Bart by the neck with a mystic-hand against the brick wall.

_"Holy shit! It's Klarion!"_

_"What?!"_

Wally sped towards Klarion, armor covering his body as he ran. He nailed Klarion in his side, sending the witch boy flying backwards, the mystic hand that was choking Bart disappearing along with his launch. Bart dropped towards the ground, gasping for air, grabbing at his throat.

He could see Black Manta in the distance, obviously frustrated, holding two water swords in his hands.

"You!" he snarled.

"Me." Wally acknowledged, scythes slipping out. Klarion let out a scream before launching a dark energy ball at him, which Wally ducked underneath, causing it to hit another building, to which, before it exploded and caught fire, Wally threw himself over Bart, scythes quickly slipping back into his armor. People began to scream, and Wally could feel debris clink off of his back. He turned his head to find pieces of aflame debris on the street, destroyed cars and a building on fire, people screaming and people on the street in pain as they tried to run away. The loud explosion didn't effect his hearing, however, as the armor protected against that.

"Bart!" he called loudly, knowing that the explosion probably made a loud ring go off in his ears. Bart didn't respond, however. He looked at Wally, obviously disoriented. He could see people beginning to evacuate his workplace and other buildings. Standing in front of Bart, Wally sent a plasma blast towards Black Manta, who screamed in pain as soon as the attack made it's impact, smacking back against the concrete. Klarion screamed once again, sending out long, mystic arms towards the two heroes. Wally picked up Bart and began to run, dodging screaming people and cars. His jet pack began to form at the back of his armor, and soon, he was sky-bound, soaring in the air, not looking back, death-grip on Bart. He finally decided it was safe to land once more in a country-like area, and set Bart down gently.

"Where are we?" he groaned.

"Shh." Wally said, and turned around. No followers. He sighed in relief before sitting down. He knew Jaime had tried contacting him a few times during his escape from Klarion, but his main focus was getting to safety, and wasn't able to speak with Jaime at the time.

_"Jaime, I'm safe, Bart's safe. We're in a small town. Klarion and Manta tried to kill him."_

_Do not fear, scans are showing that the Flash will only take a few minutes to recover._

_"Irey and I are going downtown to make sure people are alright."_ Jaime informed.

 _"Okay. We'll be back soon, I promise."_ Wally told him before shutting the link off.

Bart managed to sit up, and look around.

"What happened?" he asked.

"Klarion made an explosion. We're not in Central City." Wally explained, answering both of Bart's questions.

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**FEBRUARY** **26TH, 2025**

**6:07 EST**

"The impact of the plasma blast was too strong for Black Manta to handle." Scientist said grimly, "I am sorry, but he is dead."

Vandal Savage glared in anger, a snarl forming at the back of his throat.

"Do you know what you have created?" he asked, attempting to remain calm.

"Wallace was most likely unaware that he-"

" _Do you know what you have created?_ " Vandal repeated, more angry this time.

There was tense silence throughout the room as Vandal clenched his fists.

"Klarion. _Kill them_." Vandal commanded.

Klarion laughed as two mystic-hands quickly caught Scientist and the former-Beetle in his grasp. He began to squeeze, so air couldn't fill their lungs. A few minutes of grunts and wheezes, he dropped them to the floor, now lifeless bodies.

Vandal smiled in satisfaction.

" _Nobody_  gets in the way of the Light," he growled,

"Not even the Reach."


	6. Chapter 5

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**FEBRUARY 26TH, 2025**

**23:06 EST**

"It's obvious that it's unsafe for anyone to live in their own houses anymore. The Light know your names. They know where you live. Where you work. They can strike at any time. They've been silent for the past month, but I think they've recovered." Batman explained to the group, then gestured them to follow, and then showed them a long corridor.

"Welcome back to college." He lead them down the corridor, then showed them the first guest room.

"Ted and Michael have guest room number one. Wally, Barry, you're room number two. Jaime, Bart, number three. Irey, Artemis, four. Don, Dawn, five."

Barry seemed to mutter underneath his breath. He wasn't all too happy about Joan deciding to stay with her friend instead of up here in the Watchtower, but he understood. Joan's friend had recently lost her husband, and needed support to battle the cancer that she was fighting off for all of these years. Joan was a stubborn but reasonable old woman, and said while looking Barry straight in the eyes, "If I'm gonna end up being hunted down, I might as well end up hunted down doing a good deed."

Barry almost smiled at the voice of the assertive Joan echoing through his mind.

"Great. Everyone bring your bags there and put stuff away. Leaguers, we're having a meeting tomorrow at ten in the morning. Be there. 'Night." Dick said before turning around and walking out of the corridor.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**FEBRUARY 27TH, 2025**

**7:08 EST**

Irey sat down with her cousins at the table, the three speedster-kids munching away at pancakes, hardly making conversation. Barry, Wally, and Artemis sat at another table, not making any conversation as well, not because of food, but due to the fact that they were all thinking about all of the recent events. Make everything two months earlier, Ted, Wally, and Michael wouldn't be here, Bart would still be Kid Flash (and Barry still Flash), Iris would still be alive, Jai wouldn't be Inertia, Queen Bee and Brain wouldn't be in Belle Reve, Lian wouldn't have been on the Team, and Irey wouldn't be Kid Flash.

Wally peered over his shoulder, he could see Starfire, Raven, Beast Boy, and Miss Martian all at a table together, the only four members that lived at the Watchtower. There were a few Leaugers in the distance as well, chatting away about somethings most likely irrelevant to the current situation in which they faced.

"So what's it like being Kid Flash?" Don asked as he finished his pancakes.

"It's... alright." Irey admitted, "I hate it when I see Jai on the street though. He's always up to something. I have to fight my own brother."

"Did Batman ever find out what that green stuff you told us about that Jai shot at you was?" Dawn asked.

"No. Or at least he hasn't told me." Irey informed, "It hurt. A lot."

"Ready?" Artemis asked as she approached the children, "You all have to go to school."

"Lame!" Irey complained, but followed her mother anyways, with Don and Dawn on her trail.

"You sure it's safe for them to go to school?" Wally asked Dick as he put his dishes in the large sink in the kitchen.

"No. I'm not completely sure. But until you guys find an alternate home-school education system for them, they're pretty much stuck. We can't just have them skip school." Dick explained, resting on the counter.

"So how's things going with Ted and Michael going?" Wally asked, joining him on the counter-rest.

"They haven't caused much trouble." Dick told him.

"Much?" Wally laughed.

"Michael blew a hole into the wall, but that's it so far." Dick explained, slightly laughing as well, "Kaldur is currently giving Michael combat training. Ted doesn't need any. It seems as if he's still at his peak."

"What about that suit?" Wally asked.

"Michael is taking it as his responsibility as well." Dick said.

"What about Ted? Are there going to be two Blue Beetles running around or...?" Wally asked.

"I don't know." Dick told him, "That's his decision."

"You planning on getting them involved with the League?" Wally asked.

Dick sighed, but then laughed, pointing out the table consisting of Jaime, Bart, Ted, and Michael, "It seems like they already are."

"It's probably like looking in a mirror for them. Another time traveler. Another Beetle." Wally commented.

"I wish I could say I trust them enough to involve them with the League. We can always use more members, especially at a time like this. But that's the thing. I don't know who to trust at a time like this." Dick sighed, "Decisions... decisions..."

"How long have they been here for?" Wally asked.

"Uh, let me see... five days." Dick told him, "Still too soon for me."

"Everything's happening too soon, Dick." Wally countered, "Black Manta and Klarion just tried to kill Bart yesterday."

"I  _know_  that." Dick seemed annoyed, "But at least when it comes to the Light, it's obvious who the bad guys are."

Wally smiled, wrapping an arm around his friend for comfort,

"Just give them once chance, Dick. I'm sure it'll work."

**UNKNOWN AREA**

**FEBRUARY 26TH, 2025**

**19:12 EST**

Jai came soaring out of the room, howling in rage, electric bolts surging across of his body.

His mentor laid a hand on his shoulder, in an attempt to relax the young boy.

"I can't believe- I can't believe my own  _dad_  did this!"

"Fathers are  _nothing_." his mentor growled in response, "We will get vengeance for all three, I promise."

"I want him  _dead_." Inertia snarled. His mentor smiled.

"There's all kinds of people we want to kill, Jai West. I have my eye on one. Or possibly two... maybe three... four... five... six... seven..."

"I want the entire League and their pathetic sidekicks  _gone._ " Vandal snarled, "Not just seven blind, winged rats!"

"The Red Beetle is the first goal, though." Lex Luthor brought up, "Then Raven. She destroyed Mercy. I spent  _years_  perfecting her!"

"I'd prefer to kill the Flashes after Wallace." Vandal voiced his opinion.

"We will kill when the time comes around, guys!" Klarion pointed out, "Whoever we can kill, we'll kill there."

Inertia scoffed,

"Well, I sure hope it's  _him_."

**GOTHAM**

**FEBRUARY 27TH, 2025**

**14:18 EST**

"Well, I think I know enough about that anti-kinetic energy thing now." Dick concluded, "Apathetic Energy."

"Finally!" Tim breathed, "Man, do I wish I was as lucky as Damian right now, to not have to sit around and wait for  _hours_."

"Damian is on a date with Milagro. No excuses for you." Dick teased.

"Cassie." Tim countered.

"Who's at work?" Dick countered back.

Tim folded his arms.

"Apathetic Energy. The technology the Light or the Reach had, it had the ability to reverse Jai's DNA, but only half-reversed it. If Jai had full Apathetic Energy inside of his cells, he'd be... super slow. Slower than any human being ever."

"Then how come they said he was so much faster than ever?" Red Robin raised an eyebrow behind his cowl.

"Inertia," Dick said, pulling up a picture taken by a couple who was on the streets on the night of the twenty-first, "Does not look eight years old."

Dick pulled up another picture, this one of Jai before he was Inertia. A scrawny strawberry-blonde with grey eyes.

Tim observed the picture for a moment, "So... they sped up his aging process? Cause he looks like he's eleven or twelve."

"I don't think so." Dick admitted, "I think they somehow injected some sort of meta-human form of steroids into him to make him larger. Faster. Stronger. So it could even out the effects of the Apathetic Energy inside of him as well."

"Makes sense." Tim agreed, "But does the energy effect non-metas as well?"

"Still don't know that." Dick admitted once again.

"So what are we going to do now? We know what's inside of him, how do we stop him though?"

Dick looked down, pondering the thought as well, "Best case scenario, we convince him to come back on our side and have him use his powers for good. Worst case scenario? ...We'll have to kill him."

Tim's eyes widened for a moment, but after a few seconds he nodded grimly in agreement.

**CENTRAL CITY**

**FEBRUARY 28TH, 2025**

**20:56 EST**

"Whatever you do, Booster, do  _not_  fuck up. Batman is giving you this  _one chance_." Ted warned from the Watchtower, eyes scanning several holograms, cameras from each suit providing him visuals from each hero.

"I won't." Michael informed from his comm.

"Just do  _not_  leave Blue's side, got that?" Ted asked.

"Roger." Booster responded.

Barbara, who was across from Ted in the Watchtower, began to count down.

"Phase one of Batman's apathetic energy machines are to go off in three... two... one..."

Green streaks of light began to soar from the ground, cracking into the sky, spelling out the word "INERTIA".

"That'll sure get his attention." Bart chuckled.

About thirty seconds more of the lightning-words occurred before Inertia came into sight, laughing, asking, "You called?"

"Initiating phase two NOW." Batgirl typed in a code on her hologram, making the machine strike at Inertia. He fell backwards onto the concrete.

There was a few seconds of tense silence.

"That didn't kill him, did it?" Jaime asked awkwardly.

Inertia began to glow a bright green before standing back up again, the Apathetic Energy that had been struck at him now flowing in small bolts across his body. He laughed, and began to ran towards Bart.

"Shit!" Bart muttered before barely dodging Jai's impact, causing the boy to slam into the brick wall behind him. For a mere few seconds, lightning bolts stopped flickering onto his body and traveled across the brick before reaching an electric street lamp and making it flicker off of power.

"Well, there goes our source of light." Ted rolled his eyes.

"Activating night vision." Jaime whispered.

"Two." Bart added.

"Three." Michael said lastly.

Inertia began to move again, but more slowly. The brick wall was nearly completely destroyed by him crashing into it. He had a few flickers of electricity across his body before it completely went out. He went after Bart once again, though not as fast. Bart began to run in circles around the area, Inertia constantly on his trail.

"Help!" Bart whimpered through his comm.

"Blue. Staple gun Inertia." Batgirl commanded.

Blue's armor began to shape shift into an armor gun, before it launched. Bart let out a scream.

"You stapled him into the wall?!" Michael screamed.

" _I didn't mean- what- I_?!" Jaime stammered.

Inertia was already running towards the two men, laughing. Michael brought his arm out forward in a clenched fist, then let the fist un-clench, sending a plasma blast towards Jai. Jai was thrown off by the blast, stumbling backwards from it before falling back on the concrete.

Blue and Booster were the ones to run towards the boy this time.

"Khaji Da says he's been knocked unconscious." Jaime informed, and Michael bit his lip. Did he just put this kid in a coma?

Inertia's breaths were shallow, but he was alive.

Jaime began to run towards Bart, and quickly pulled out a scythe and chopped off the the staple. Bart fell to the ground right away, groaning.

Jaime picked him up and flew back towards Michael.

"Batgirl? Ted? Should I take him?" he asked.

"Ugh... thanks for the memories, carino." Bart mumbled. Jaime ignored him.

"Kid Flash is coming with the League inhibitor collars. She'll be there in forty-five seconds." Batgirl informed, "After that, I want you to take him to the warehouse in Bludhaven. Batman and a few other Leaguers will meet you there."

"Where's Bludhaven?" Michael asked, raising an eyebrow behind his goggles.

"Jaime will lead you to the Zetas." Batgirl reassured.

Jaime finally put Bart down, who was able to stand by now. He scanned Inertia's body for any tracking devices.

"Problema." Jaime began to speak, "There's a tracking device in Jai's bloodstream."

Ted sighed from the other side of the comm.

"Take him anyways." Batgirl commanded, "Bart, take him."

"Seriously? I'm always the one who he tries to kill!" Bart complained.

Irey skidded to a halt with a grey inhibitor collar in hand. Jaime took the collar and snapped it over Jai's neck.

"Bart, go  _now_." Batgirl seemed irritated as she spit out the command.

Bart no longer hesitated and quickly picked up Inertia, running off with him towards Bludhaven.

Jaime and Michael agreed upon using Zeta Tubes, to which, the Zeta Tube still registered Michael as "guest".

The last words Michael thought before disappearing was,

_Fear me, for I am the almighty Guest!_

**THE WAREHOUSE**

**FEBRUARY 28TH, 2025**

**21:32 EST**

Batman and Red Robin had no hesitation in beginning to operate on Jai to remove his microscopic tracking device. Bart, on the other hand, paced around the warehouse uneasily, pulling his cowl back and wiping sweat off of his forehead. Jaime and Michael were outside, preparing for a Light attack along with Aqualad and Zatanna.

"Calm down." Damian said from the corner of the room, leaning back against the wall, looking down.

"Why'd they bring you with? Your leg is crushed." Flash responded, pointing to the heavy cast around Robin's leg.

"I'm currently hacking into any nearby security cameras to see if the Light is around. You seriously didn't see my hologram?" Damian scoffed.

Bart's eyes darted towards Robin's wrist, and he could, in fact, notice the hologram now. He sighed. He was really anxious. He'd honestly rather be outside looking out for the Light rather than in here with Inertia. But Dick had insisted that he stay here, in case of Inertia somehow escaping the collar and running off, as Bart would be the only one fast enough to catch him.

The warehouse shook as a scream was heard from outside. Every hero inside of that building knew immediately that Kaldur'ahm had been slammed into the outside wall of the warehouse. The Light was already here.

"Done." Dick said quickly as there was a small spark, confirming that the tracking device was out of Jai's bloodstream and broken.

"Bart, take Inertia to the Watchtower ASAP. Register him as a guest." Batman commanded.

Bart didn't complain this time, but instead, picked up the still-unconscious boy and took off through the small back entrance.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**MARCH 1ST, 2025**

**8:04 EST**

"It's all over the news." Dick said grimly as he rest a hand on Kaldur's medical bed.

"Do you think he will be alright?" Artemis asked, taking off her mask as Tigress and setting it down, resting her eyes on her Atlantean friend.

Dick sucked in a deep breath before talking, "Yeah. He'll be up by the end of the day."

"I feel lucky compared to him." Zatanna muttered as she entered the room, her wrist in a cast from the previous night's battle.

"So what about Michael?" Artemis turned to Dick, "Trust him now?"

Dick almost gave a satisfied smile. Michael had done an excellent job of fighting off the Light yesterday, and gave Vandal a left-arm burn he would remember.

"Sure." he responded.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**MARCH 1ST, 2025**

**9:07 EST**

"I'm not saying a word." Jai insisted and growled, and would fold his arms if he wasn't tied down to a strait jacket.

"You don't have to." Wally growled back, eyes behind his orange disks glaring at Jai.

There was a silent intensity between them. Wally never imagined there'd be such hostility between him and his own son.

"So what are you gonna do then? Kill me?" Jai snarled.

"Is that a challenge?" Damian growled.

Jai spit at him, and Damian didn't move a muscle as the saliva hit his cheek. He then suddenly let out a roar, and punched Jai in the face, causing his head to swing backwards and his nose to bleed.

Wally looked at Damian, jaw-dropped, in absolute shock.

Jai didn't scream or cry from the punch, he just sat there, glaring at Damian. Damian glared back behind his cowl, un-intimidated by the boy.

" _Listen_." he growled to Jai, and grabbed his chin, forcing the boy to look at him, "Others may be easy on you but I'm  _not_. I don't care how old you are or who you're related to. I'm not scared of you, I'm not scared of  _anyone_."

Wally stopped himself before he said that he could name one person in particular that Damian was afraid of. He just smiled in a mix of amusement of his could-have-been comment and watching Damian lecture Inertia.

Batman walked into the room, putting a hand on Wally's shoulder which was covered in armor, whispering into his ear before he walked off with the speedster-Beetle.

"Listen," he began to whisper outside of the room Jai was being held in as the doors shut, "Ted, Batgirl, Red Robin, Babs, Bruce and I all agreed on something last night."

"What is that?" Wally asked.

"We're going to build a machine, one that will take away the apathetic energy out of Jai."

"What about Robin?" Wally asked, "What's he gonna be doing?"

"He agreed to stay here during the time being, to make sure everything with Jai is under control. That's why he was in the room with you." Batman explained, "We don't know how long the process will take, though." Dick admitted, "We're gonna need all hands on deck. Miss M is already lecturing the Team on what they should do. As for your and Bart's jobs, that restaurant isn't opening back up for a while due to damages from Klarion's blast. Which means I want neither of you leaving the Watchtower, with the exception of missions. Clear?"

Wally wasn't too happy about being un-allowed to leave the Watchtower, but he knew Dick was right.

"What about the ones with jobs though? Like Artemis, Barry, and Jaime? We can't just let them get fired." Wally pointed out, "By the way, we're already getting Don, Dawn, and Irey set up in a home-school program."

"I... don't know yet." Dick admitted, "We'll get that situated. Otherwise," he began to smile, "Bro-night in my room tonight, ten-forty-five. Me, Tim, Damian, and I want you to come. We're watching Avengers."

Wally smiled back, and it was the biggest smile he had in about a month. Something so simple, just a movie and hanging out with friends, something so simple among all of the chaos that was going on right now, it was amazing.

"That sounds great." was all he said.


	7. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy date of birth, Lian Harper, 9/7/15.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**MARCH 2ND, 2025**

**24:00 EST**

The heroes looked in confusion as the screen suddenly went dark, cutting off their movie. It reappeared, except not with the movie. There was a man standing there, one none of them recognized, but the clear shapes of Lex Luthor, Klarion, and Vandal Savage were behind him.

"Hello, Justice League." the man said in an annoyed tone, "I want to make this quick and simple."

Damian snarled at the screen.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way. Either you give us back Inertia, or..."

a hologram popped up next to the man's head, pin-pointing locations on the United States map, "Central City, Metropolis, Fawcett City, and Gotham, are  _gone_." he said in an aggressive tone.

"Bluff." Damian muttered.

"This is the trigger." the man said, holding up a button in his hands, and the hologram switched to a recording of a street-way in Central City. Everyone was confused, until the camera zoomed in on a small object attached to one of the brick walls, and it quietly beeped.

"You have twelve hours."

the video ended.

There was a few seconds of nothing but silence, as the heroes were trying to process what had just happened.

Batman was the first to speak up, activating his communication device.

"League. Team. Meet in the Watchtower, ASAP. Emergency."

He wasn't exactly sure how many people had seen the video, as most Team members and Leaguers were at their own homes, asleep.

But Batman knew the message was intended for all.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**MARCH 2ND, 2025**

**24:27 EST**

"I say we evacuate the cities." Wonder Woman said.

"Diana," Icon began, "You're right but... what if there's bombs in other cities they haven't told us about? Like, hidden ones?"

"Raquel, that is true..." Zatanna pondered the thought.

"Can't we just give him back?" Michael piped in.

Several heads with disapproval spread across their faces snapped towards Michael's direction.

"Absolutely not." Captain Atom told him, "Even if we do give Inertia back, they could still blow up the cities. That gives them twice the advantage."

The rest of the League nodded in agreement.

Dick, who had been sitting there quietly looking down, narrowed his eyes and snapped his head up.

"I want those three cities evacuated immediately, inform the public of what the bomb looks like and to tell authorities if they see one not in Central City, Fawcett City, Gotham, or Metropolis. I want the Team to be in charge of evacuating civilians and have the League in charge of deactivating the bombs, and possibly fighting off the Light. We are  _not_  giving Inertia back,"

There were a few murmurs among the League before everyone nodded in agreement.

"Great. Aqualad, you assign positions for the League." Dick turned his head to his Atlantean friend.

"I?" Kaldur seemed confused.

Dick nodded in confirmation.

Miss Martian was already out of the room, ready to assign positions to the Team upon evacuating people out of the cities.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**MARCH 2ND, 2025**

**1:03 EST**

"Supergirl and Streaky. You two are in Central City, southern evacuation exit. Superboy, Wolf, eastern. Raven, G.L., northern. Bunker, Speedy, western. In Fawcett city: southern, Mary Marvel, Beast Boy. Eastern, Batgirl, Arrowette. Northern, Starfire, and me. The rest will be taken care of by League counterparts. Robin is staying here to keep an eye on Inertia." Miss Martian explained.

The Team nodded.

"The League is currently sending out a warning message to these cities. Leave, now, there's only so much time to spare." Miss Martian said. The Team quickly began to run towards the Zeta Tube, the computer quickly recognizing them before sending them out to their designated cities.

**NORTHERN FAWCETT CITY**

**MARCH 2ND, 2025**

**11:28 MCT**

Bart Allen ran from door to door, desperately knocking, escorting people out as quickly as possible. If they didn't answer, he'd simply vibrate his way inside, having to remind several young children that there wasn't time for them to grab a special toy, having to awkwardly interrupt couples having sex, and having to apologize to several grumpy, middle-aged adults for waking them up. He was used to this this kind of behavior, however, and nearly thanked the creepy-probably-rapist guy from the restaurant for upping his tolerance for people like these.

Meanwhile, Booster was doing his best to get people moving. Of course, he had help from the police, but not everyone seemed to happy about the sudden evacuation, and a few thugs have even pulled out a few knives and guns at him. He decided that it was best to keep his force-field active until the city was cleared. Bart was running around the neighborhoods, scanning for any people still inside of their houses, which few were. The traffic from cars caused plenty of honking, and some people decided to leave on foot, bikes, or electric scooters. After about an hour and forty minutes, the city was completely hollow. Bart flopped down next to Michael, the two men resting on a house, trying to catch their breaths. They had done it. Well,  _they_  had done it. There was still the bombs that needed deactivation, and staying in the city wasn't the safest option as of this moment.

"Flash and Booster to Team and League. We finished evacuating the northern part of the city. How's everything going for you guys?"

"Central City is almost done." Supergirl said from the other line.

"Gotham is somewhat completed." Captain Atom said from the other line.

"Metropolis is empty." Superman said from the other line.

"Get back to the Watchtower." Wonder Woman commanded.

Though he knows she didn't see it, Bart nodded, and unexpectedly scooped up Michael in his arms, running to the closest Zeta Tube. It didn't take long for the computer to recognize them, in which it still called Michael 'guest'.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**MARCH 2ND, 2025**

**3:34 EST**

Bart flopped down to the couch, pulling back his cowl so his messy brunet hair flopped over his forehead, closing his eyes and taking a deep breath.

"Dude. Can you get me something out of the fridge? My metabolism is starting to get to me." he said, taking another deep breath.

Michael nodded, pushing back his own cowl before walking towards the kitchen, and just as he opened the fridge, he heard a yelp of pain.

He raised an eyebrow in suspicion, and grabbed a piece of apple pie for Bart before closing the fridge, looking in the direction of the yelp. He brought the slice of apple pie back to Bart.

"I think I heard something. I'm going to check it out. If I'm not back in five minutes, check on me, okay?" Michael asked, a clear tone of concern in his voice.

"Ha. Okay." Bart laughed a little, rolling his eyes. He wasn't trying to be rude- he just couldn't believe that Michael would be so paranoid in the Watchtower, after living here for a good week or so, and never leaving. The only reason he thought Michael could possibly paranoid was because Inertia was being held in a room inside of the Watchtower, but it was still an irrational thought. Not only was he locked inside of the room, he had an inhibitor collar on, was tied down with a strait jacket, and had the Boy Wonder watching over him.

Michael ignored Bart's comment and slowly crept towards the room where Inertia was being held. He gasped at the sight. The door that held Inertia separate from the others was dented in, sparks jutting out from the side as the wires inside it were viciously ripped apart and the door was hanging on only by a few wires, dangling in the air. He heard voices, ones not familiar.

He jumped backwards as an object skidded out of the room. He could barely recognize it, and it took a few seconds for his brain to register what it actually was. It was a birdarang- a mangled one at that. The second he knew it was a birdarang, the second he knew Robin was in trouble. Had Inertia somehow escaped? With a mixed act of bravery and impulsiveness, he charged into the room, and shot at the first villain he could spot- and it wasn't Inertia. It was Vandal Savage. But... how?

Never mind that, he thought to himself. Vandal was already shot and screaming in pain on the ground. Michael placed himself in front of the body of Robin, protecting the teenage boy against the next villains he saw; this time, it was Lex Luthor, Klarion, and a man he had never seen before.

"Inertia, kill him!" Lex Luthor demanded from inside of his large robotic suit that he sat in.

"But last time-"

Too late. Booster wasn't taking that risk. There was one loud zip before Inertia was struck again with his plasma blast, knocking the boy to the floor, unconscious. Suit-Luthor reacted immediately, taking one of his large robotic arms and putting Michael in his grasp, before Michael could activate his force-field.

" _Bart!_ " was all he could scream as loud as he could, feeling his bones crack and joints pop out of place as the wrath of Lex Luthor encased him.

Bart came soaring in, slamming himself into Lex Luthor, the impact from his speed tossing the robot over, releasing his grip on Michael, who fell Bart's arms, eyes wide, barely able to breathe.

"Bart to Team and League," Bart began as he dodged the shadow-Klarion arms that were beginning to make their way in attempt to grab him, " _Help!_ "

As if timing weren't his friend, one Klarion's shadow-arms managed to break his comm. Not again.

The message was through, though. He would nearly smile if there wasn't a large chance of death. Lex Luthor stood back up, Bart spotting a huge dent in his armor right away.

"Say goodbye to your beloved cities!" he screeched, and from inside of his suit, clicked a button.

" _No_!" Bart screeched.

His attention was quickly swayed when he heard the computer recognizing the League and the Team. They began to run towards Inertia's room immediately. Whilst Lex and the Witch Boy were distracted, in his best efforts and a rush of adrenaline, Bart picked up both Robin and Booster, running out of the room.

He didn't see the battle cries in which the League and the Team had while battling the members of the Light. He heard Ted Kord run up next to him, his eyes widening at the sight of Michael's condition. Fortunately for both Barbara and Ted, they had been sent out to deactivate the bombs, and not stay in the Watchtower. Compared to other members of the League and Team, the two were very vulnerable, and could have been dead in a second. It wouldn't have helped Robin if they decided to stay. Bart thanked the stars that he and Michael returned when they did, and Michael heard Robin's cries when he did. A few mere seconds could have made all of the difference.

"Is he going to live?" he looked over to Ted, concern in his green eyes reflecting over Ted's blue ones.

"Take him to the emergency operations room. We'll try to save him in there.  _Go_!"

**EMERGENCY OPERATIONS ROOM**

**MARCH 2ND, 2025**

**3:47 EST**

"I have to go back out and help the League." Bart said with uncertainty.

"Don't worry. I'll watch him and Robin." Ted reassured.

Bart nodded before taking off. Ted sighed as he heard the two life supports from Robin and Booster go off in the room.

He sighed. He knew Damian was going to live. Damian had suffered some head trauma, but nothing he couldn't recover fully from. Michael, on the other hand, was an absolute mess.

Ted looked down at his friend, grabbing his hand with his own shaky one, just hoping Michael would live.

Friend.

Ted had just considered Michael a friend.

Ted didn't even try holding back tears. Why was he such an asshole to Michael this entire time? All Michael did was help him, and he repaid by being a jerk. He regretted it immensely as he realized that he may not even get the chance to apologize to him, for his asshole-ish ways. What the hell was wrong with him? Michael did  _nothing_ wrong.

"Please stay," Ted whimpered,

"I'm sorry."

x

Inertia awoke with a start inside of the room. He looked confused at first, then winced as he sat up, feeling the pain in his chest. That damn gold and blue guy. He gasped as he suddenly felt a tug at his sleeve, and he realized, he was soon enough, standing over his uncle, Bart Allen.

"Kill him." a voice boomed.

He looked up to see his mentor, his facial expression unreadable from his helmet. But he knew what he wanted.

And at that moment, for the first time, Inertia felt torn.

Why Bart?

He had never hated Bart. Bart had never done anything wrong, he thought, as he looked at his bloody face and torn off cowl on the floor.

Heck, what did  _Wally_  do wrong? He killed Black Manta, but what had Black Manta ever done for Jai? Black Manta always scoffed at him or rolled his eyes when he saw the boy.

Why was Inertia so upset over the Atlantean's death? Because his mentors, the Light were?

"Jai, what are you waiting for? A large enough blast can kill his ass right away." his mentor reminded.

Jai stared at the unconscious body for a few more moments before hanging his head.

"I can't."

Those words, those words he had spat about Wally, was simply out of anger.

" _What_?"

"I  _can't_!" Jai repeated, bearing his electric green eyes into the helmet of his mentor's. He wondered if he had green eyes, too, behind that helmet, behind the masks he wore when he wasn't wearing the helmet.

"One. More.  _Chance_." his mentor growled.

Jai was silent for a few seconds, narrowing his eyes sternly.

" _No_."

"You little  _shit._ " His mentor growled once again, and pinned Jai to the floor as he yelped. Dick Grayson's eyebrows widened behind his cowl as he entered the room once more, as he was looking for Bart in the aftermath of the battle. He sure found him, but it seemed as Inertia was battling the one that the Central City heroes claimed to be his own mentor.

Jai began to vibrate, and the man pulled out a syringe with mysterious blue liquid in it. Dick was running by now, not knowing who's side he was on, not knowing if this was a trick to reel him into a trap, all he knew was that he needed to get there  _fast_.

The man injected the syringe into Jai, the blue liquid going into his bloodstream. He dropped Jai to the ground, and the man stood up, standing tall.

Batman stopped, only a few feet away from the man.

"We've lost haven't we?" he asked.

"What'd you do to Inertia?" Batman asked, clenching his fists.

"We all lost." he growled, and then took off his helmet, and threw it across the room, and Dick could hear it scatter to the floor. Long black hair and dark green eyes greeted him mischievously, "Hi, Dickey."

"Jason?" Dick's breath left his body, his face as pale as a sheet.

"Was Jason. Was Robin. Was Red Hood. But now it's just Nothing." Jason almost laughed, and pulled out a gun out of his pocket.

Dick's eyes widened, immediately believing that in less than a second, he'd be shot dead.

But he was wrong.

With a swift motion of a gun on the side of his head, Jason pulled the trigger and collapsed to the floor.

" _Jason!_ "

Dick quickly knelt to the ground. The blood that came out of Jason's head quickly covered his face, making it unrecognizable. He noticed Inertia as well. The boy had blood dripping out of his mouth, and he was making small squeaks of pain.

The League and Team came rushing in, Wally immediately next to Dick, his eyes wide. He grabbed his son and cradled him in his arms.

"Jai, stay with us,  _please_."

"N-no." Jai stammered, coughing out blood, "I'm  _sorry_."

"Jai,  _please_."

"You should  _hate me_!" he screamed, a flash of anger in his eyes as he managed to lift up his head somewhat, then his eyes dulled and his head flopped back down, "I'm  _sorry_."

" _Jai_. Jai, please  _listen_."

" _Sorry_." Inertia croaked.

" _Jai._ "

" _Sorry..._ "

Jai's eyes began to roll to the back so the only the whites slowly began to show, and he closed them, shutting them so tightly that a few tears managed their way out and rolled off of his face from the back of his head. His slow breathing became even slower, and then there was stillness. There was a few seconds of utter silence.

Wally wasn't covered in armor anymore, and tears began to spill down his cheeks and they landed on top of Jai, his slowly cooling body and his green suit.

"Wally..." Dick croaked, resting a hand on his friend's shoulder.

Wally gently set the body of Jai down on the floor, the blood on the dead-speedster's face now drying and becoming crusty.

And to think the speedster was only three days away from his eighth birthday.


	8. Chapter 7

**EMERGENCY OPERATIONS ROOM**

**MARCH 2ND, 2025**

**7:17 EST**

"Do you think he's gonna leave?" Wally asked, looking at Ted, who was still side-by-side with Michael, holding onto him, barely able to keep himself awake.

Dick walked up to Ted, waving a hand in front of his face, causing him to snap awake and look up at Dick, bags under his eyes.

"Go to bed, Ted. It's over." Dick told him.

"No..." Ted said groggily, "No... it's not."

"You need proper rest." Dick said sternly as if he were his mother.

"No..." Ted groaned, letting his head fall forward on the hospital bed.

Dick rolled his eyes, and un-twined Ted's fingers from Michael's and picked him up.

"No!" he screamed, trying his best to kick his way free but was too disorientated, "No, you don't understand! He could die and I won't be here!"

Dick ignored Ted's pleas to let him go, and walked to his reserved room in the Watchtower, and set him on his bed.

Ted tried pushing himself back up, but fell back onto his bed and struggled for his eyes to stay in the front of his head. He didn't remember the rest.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**MARCH 2ND, 2025**

**12:07 EST**

Dick had managed to get a nap or two in to gain some energy to go throughout the course of the day.

But he had finally realized one thing.

_It was over._

All of it, well, almost. Not just like last month, where Wally had been freed from the Reach, but the Light was over (and the Reach as well, as the Team and League discovered that they had been killed).

After court cases, Vandal and Luthor would be sent to Arkham Asylum to live out the rest of their days. Klarion was still on the loose, which still put the Bat at unease, and he was sure Black Manta's troops wouldn't be too happy to hear about the death of their leader. But Dick knew, after nineteen years on the job, that's what heroes do. They take care of the old problems and face the new like a solider. Wally felt pretty guilty after he found out he had accidentally killed Black Manta, and expected Kaldur to unleash some sort of rage on him. But Kaldur, of course, wasn't that upset.

"Bloodlines aren't what makes family," he said, "It's the love and bonds that do."

Dick knew he was correct, after forming a bond with the Robins and Batgirls that came and went throughout the years. They were his family after his life at the circus.

Jai was still being mourned by Artemis, which was fine. It was such a shame, Dick knew, that Jai's life ended on such a low note. He knew that there was Jai West before there was Inertia, the ginger-haired grey-eyed boy. Irey hadn't said much during the past few hours, she had just sat quietly and stared. Dick wondered what it'd be like for her, spending her first ever birthday without her brother at her side.

"Nngh." a voice was heard across the room. Dick turned his head, and smiled. Michael was awake! He sped over to the bedside, where Michael looked confused and afraid. He began to hyperventilate.

"Shh, shh, it's okay. Everything is okay." Dick reassured.

Michael's panicked manner ceased somewhat, but he still seemed uneasy.

"Where's Ted?" he croaked, "He was here. I remember."

Dick couldn't help but smile.

"He was." Dick confirmed, "He's asleep now. He didn't leave until I forced him to. He may seem like an asshole, but I think he really cares about you, Michael."

"Surprise." Michael laughed and coughed.

Dick couldn't help but smile again.

**THE WATCHTOWER**

**MARCH 9TH, 2025**

**8:00 EST**

"I think it's time, since you're fully healed..." Dick began, "That I introduce you both as full fledged members of the League."

"Wait, what?" Michael and Ted asked, both equally surprised.

Dick nodded, "Booster... and... well, Ted, you're gonna have to come up with something."

"I've already got something." Ted said, "And uh... I think it's time to tell you both..."

"What is it?" Dick asked.

"That time machine under the name of Rip Hunter?" Ted asked.

"What about it?" Dick asked.

"I actually made it." Ted began to talk before any questions could spill, "I was working on a nearly-completed invention that night when the Light were after me. All I needed was to engrave my name into it. Once I was aware that they were coming, I made a name off the top of my head. Rip Hunter. I knew they wanted the scarab, and I didn't want them taking anything else. I figured that they'd steal any important device that had the name 'Kord' on it, which is why I signed it under the fake name, hoping that it wouldn't trigger theft as much. I sent the time machine down to one of my underground passageways for more safety, to hope they'd never find it."

"They did, actually, four-hundred years later." Michael amused the fact.

"That's why I was able to get into it so easily." Ted told them, "My machine. No hacking required."

"Oh... well... that makes... sense now." Michael rubbed the back of his neck.

"With all of that, I'm taking on the name of Rip Hunter. I'll be a new guy. New suit. New gear. New name." Ted concluded.

Dick smiled, "Sounds great, I'll get you two registered into the system right away."

"Wait!" Michael called before Dick could leave. Dick raised an eyebrow.

"I said a few weeks ago to Ted, Cassie, and Tim, that I wanted to be more than just 'Booster'. I know what I want my full hero name to be now." Michael told them.

"And that is?" Dick raised an eyebrow.

"Booster Gold." Michael told him.

Dick grinned, "Well then, Booster Gold, Rip Hunter, I shall register you both into the League system. Congrats."

Michael waited until Dick left the room to speak.

"Why the 'Gold' part?" Ted asked.

"For my sister. She's the one who made this all possible. She was called Goldstar. I just thought it was a nice touch," Michael smirked,

"Congratulations,  _Rippy_."

" _Boosty_."

" _Hunty._ "

" _Goldie_."

**CENTRAL CITY**

**OCTOBER 4TH, 2025**

**11:09 CT**

"Helloooo!" Michael cheered as the door opened and he pushed Ted inside, "Chicken Whizees? Where's the Chicken Whizees? Did Bart eat them all?"

"Uhm... No..." Bart called from the kitchen as he swallowed the last bag. Michael rolled his eyes. Then they widened and he dropped to the ground, immediately cooing at the little kitten who bounded up to him from the floor.

"Is this Impulse? He's  _sooo cute_! Dawww."

"Calm down." Ted told him.

Jaime laughed and said, "Trust me, you can never control them." then quickly changed the subject, "So how's your new life going?"

"Currently operating under the business of Ted Technologies." Ted laughed, "It's doing pretty well."

"Right, what's your new name?" Jaime asked.

"Rick Ted. Simple name if you ask me." Ted commented.

"I'm Nathan Myers." Michael stood up while still holding Impulse, "Boss here doesn't pay me."

"That's because you live with me and work for me. Because 'Batman said so'." Ted insisted.

"Nah, you just love me."

"Don't push it." Ted told him.

"Can we get a cat, too? This cat is cute." Michael commented.

"We're here to spend time with friends, not discuss getting a cat." Ted told him.

"Please?" Michael asked, puppy-eyed.

"No."

"Aww, come on!"

"You two banter a lot." Bart commented, scratching Impulse on the head and feeling the cat purr.

Jaime smirked.

"He's nicer than he used to be, but he's always so grumpy." Michael commented.

"It's a cha-... never-mind." Ted sighed.

"Holy hell, just get a room already." Bart snorted.

"We already  _do_ have a room." Ted rolled his eyes, "Well, until he thought it was smart to smear peanut butter on my face while I was asleep, and now he's sleeping on the couch."

"That was a prank! And two weeks ago!" Michael complained.

"Guys, we're gonna miss our movie." Jaime pointed out.

"Weseriouslyareohmygodlet'sgo!" Michael was the one to fast-talk this time, not Bart. He grabbed Ted by the wrist and began to drag him out the door.

Ted had to stop himself from grumbling in annoyance, but appreciated the concern and enthusiasm Michael had for something as simple as a movie.

 _Okay,_ Ted began to admit in his head, something he'd never do out-loud,  _maybe life like this isn't too bad._


End file.
